One call from Roy and this Rio row would have been averted... but I'm sure Ferdinand will be back
By GLENN HODDLE
The best players, the truly great ones, don’t retire from international football. They love football and they love playing for their country.
You can see it in the England team now in Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard. They might have thought about easing back on their commitments, especially when injuries come along, but in their hearts they love the game and know that achieving on the international scene is part of what makes a player great. It is the pinnacle, even in this era when the Champions League has grown in importance.
Which is why I think Rio Ferdinand will come back to international football, despite the furore this last week about his selection, his withdrawal from the squad and the anger expressed by some England fans on Friday night. I’m sure that in his heart he is that kind of player. If you love the game, then you play international football for as long as you can.
He'll be back: Rio Ferdinand will return to England duty because great players need to achieve in internationals
Leading by example: Frank Lampard (right) and Steven Gerrard (left) love playing for their country
I don’t see the fact that he flew out to Qatar to do TV analysis as being disrespectful to his country. It might seem disappointing that he’s taking two seven-hour-plus flights during this time but then none of us know the ins and outs of Rio’s medical programme.
He has said this is something he had done on previous international breaks. Getting into a warmer climate can be important for recuperating a back injury, even if the flights don’t seem ideal. I don’t think this closes the door on Rio’s international career.
As managers, you get used to managing relationships like this and often it’s not as heated as it seems from the outside. Roy’s right to keep the door open because I think he may well need Rio for some of the tricky ties in the autumn, when we play Montenegro and Poland at home. And he may even need him for the World Cup finals.
The decision to select him was, of course, the right one. Rio is the best centre-half in the country at the moment and he also has the experience of 81 caps. But with hindsight I think Roy Hodgson will regret the fact that he hadn’t spoken to him and his club prior to selection.
Time to talk: Roy Hodgson should have contacted Ferdinand before selecting him
And for me, this is the kind of issue that would have been best dealt with a phone call a couple of weeks ago to Sir Alex Ferguson to say: ‘Look, I’m thinking of bringing him back in, what do you think?’ Then they would have known the full extent of his training regime.
England have an excellent physio in Gary Lewin. In my day he was also the Arsenal physio, which sometimes caused problems with Manchester United. In this situation it would have done, as they wouldn’t have wanted such a close rival knowing the details of their player’s rehabilitation.
However, Gary is now neutral and just works for England, so this is exactly the situation where a meeting between him and the Manchester United medical staff would have smoothed the way for Rio’s selection, or they might have agreed to rest him.
Either way, better communication all round could have avoided a situation where this has been the focal point of media discussion and has resulted in some fans turning against Rio.
Unhappy: England supporters sang several anti-Rio songs during the game
When I was a club manager, I always thought that the fact that I had played for my country made a difference to the way I viewed my players going off on national team duty. I knew what an honour it had been to me when I played, so it was difficult to look a player in the eye and discourage them from joining up with a squad. And maybe it’s different for managers that haven’t played at international level because they don’t feel that in the same way.
I even liked my players being called up, because I knew how much I had learned so much about myself as player with England. You would have tough matches at the top level against a very different kind of player. You would test yourself and often come away thinking: ‘What a hard game that was!’
And perhaps it’s been easier for the foreign managers we’ve had in charge in the national team. Fabio Capello didn’t have any qualms about calling up players. His view was: ‘If it’s international week, they’re my players and I’m having them.’ And that’s how they work in other countries.
Missing Rio could be a serious problem for England against Montenegro, because of the lack of experience we have in that position. In fact, ever since the retirement of John Terry and Rio’s injury issues, the centre of defence has been Roy Hodgson’s biggest problem. We don’t have defenders that are experienced at defending at international level, nor do we have centre-halves, Rio aside, who are good with the ball at that level.
Old times: Ferdinand's partnership with John Terry was solid and reliable
I had plans to make Rio a sweeper when I was England manager and use him to bring the ball into midfield. I’ve been told that Rio said on Friday night that he enjoyed his football most under my management and I hope that sense of freedom I was aiming to give him might have been the reason why.
We don’t really have players like that now. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones may develop into that, but it’s still early to say. Joleon Lescott, Phil Jagielka, Michael Dawson are all decent players but are short of experience of facing that exquisite movement you see in the last third of the pitch with international teams. Gary Cahill has gained a bit of that with Chelsea over the last year, but even if he were fit, he hasn’t been in the best form.
Not there yet: Chris Smalling (centre) could become world class but has a way to go
Still, you have to give credit where it’s due. You don’t get many 8-0 wins in international football these days, even against the smaller nations, so England couldn’t have done much more on Friday night, even if the real test for Smalling and Lescott comes on Tuesday.
Every team that plays against England will allow the centre-halves to have the ball and then press everyone else because they know the distribution of the ball from the defenders is likely to quickly break down. That’s exactly what I would do if I was the opposition manager.
And given that Montengero’s strength is up front in Stevan Jovetic and Mirko Vucinic, you know that England will come under the cosh on Tuesday night. I think we will win, but it won’t be easy — and if we do, it should be rated as a magnificent performance.
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