Ferdinand: Leader material

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Rio Ferdinand is still dreaming of being named England captain on a full-time basis.

The Manchester United defender took the armband for a friendly against France in March, just one of a number of players to be handed the honour under Fabio Capello as the Italian runs the rule over the potential candidates for the job.

John Terry, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham are all in contention for the role, with a decision set to be made ahead of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign which gets under way in the autumn.

Ferdinand admits that he would relish the opportunity to become the permanent skipper, but concedes that he is in not the only one hoping to be given that chance.

Honour

"It's a great honour to lead your country," the centre-half told Sky Sports News.

"You dream about that as a kid, just playing for country let alone captaining the side, so it would be great.

"But I'm like all the others who have worn the armband during this period. We all want to wear the armband and be named captain and given that responsibility, it's great.

"But the manager has to make his decision and we will all stand by it, no matter who gets the job."

Disappointing

Ferdinand is currently in Nigeria helping to promote education through sport, but admits that he would rather be in Austria and Switzerland competing at Euro 2008.

"Had it been on paper than we would be at the European Championship, but we're not there," he said.

"It's always in the back of your mind and you get reminders here, there and everywhere and it's disappointing because a lot of people have said it's not the same without England there.

"But at the end of the day we weren't good enough, so we need to turn that around in the upcoming qualifying campaign for the World Cup."

Mentality

The Red Devils ace is in confident mood heading into the battle for a place in South Africa in two years time, and believes that in Capello England have found a coach who is capable of leading them to glory.

The manager is really demanding in terms of what he wants, so we have got to produce," said Ferdinand.

"The manager wants us to be a top team and wants to get to the latter stages of a tournament to try and win it, not just get there and get to the quarter-finals or semi-finals and be unlucky again.

"We need the mentality of wanting to go out there and win and that's what he is trying to instil. No-one thinks it's going to happen overnight but we are working the right way towards that."