Rio Ferdinand - No country for old man

He is 34. He is overlooked by the manager of the England national team. The reason for his overlooking has ceased to exist. His one time partner in crime at the centre of defence is now long gone. Yet, the manager ignores him. Some fans question the decision. Others don’t care; they think he is past his prime anyway. Either way, the manager of the club that he plays for is overjoyed; he does not want to lose him to an injury sustained on international duty.

Ever since the whole racism row erupted, all people were asking was if Rio would ever play for England again. When Roy Hogdson took charge, he made it explicitly clear that he could and would select only one out of Rio and Terry. He chose Terry, citing the potential disharmony in the dressing room as the cause for overlooking Rio. However, now that Terry is gone, Roy has no excuse to fall back on. Perhaps it is time for him to put this matter to rest once and for all. Or is it?

First, let’s look at what Rio has going against him: he is old – 34 is certainly a large number in footballing terms, he has lost that lightning pace that he used to great effect in his prime, he is something of a prima dona, not quite fit enough to play two games a week – his back needs looking after and nursing and the manager, apparently, does not really rate him above his other options.

Now, for the things that are still going for him: he is still world class, of that, there is no doubt – he showed his class in the recent game against Ronaldo and co, he still has oodles of talent and when he is on the ball, he hardly ever looks flustered, he reads the game brilliantly and what he has lost in pace, he made up for in terms of his tactical awareness, he is a natural leader and can definitely command the England defence; he is quite a regular for Manchester United – and that says a lot.

Now weighing up the pros and cons that Rio brings to the team. Quite clearly in Roy’s mind, he is excess baggage that the team can very well do without. However, can they? Cahill looks extremely circumspect at the highest level and has had a couple of high-profile disasters in the recent past. Caulker is most certainly one for the future but will he be ready by 2014? The case of Phil Jones is much the same. Smalling looks to be Rio’s natural successor for both club and country; however, his progress has been less than satisfactory, with injuries plaguing his season. The other real choices available are Dawson, who has either been captain when picked or never picked at all and a few others who might not really make the cut.

Thus, the whole thing boils down to essentially this: is Rio really not good enough to walk into that England team on current form? The key component of that question seems to be the last part – on current form. On current form, there is absolutely no doubt that he will command a place on that team sheet. However, what he does have going against him is the fact that he will be 35 by the time the World Cup comes around and even if he still is playing, how well would he hold up after another entire season with Manchester United?

Again, the last part of that is intriguing. Will Rio be at Manchester United come the start of next season? Thus far, Rio has stalled on a contract extension. Sir Alex does not seem to be worried for he believes that Rio will sign at the end of the season or before it. By the looks of it, he quite fancies Rio to last another year in the least. He believes that he has figured out the way to get Rio through the season by selectively playing him and thus far, it has worked. Will it work next season? Anyone’s guess that is.

So what of Rio then? Is he finished for England? Does he even need to play for England any more? Patriotism and all that aside, after such treatment, will he really ever feel at home in that England dressing room again? Will he put all this behind him if and when called upon again? Or will he just look at prolonging his successful stint at Manchester United, the way Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs have done by retiring from international duty? Or will he perhaps go onto one large pay day in the middle East or America?

Romantics might just want one last hurray from the centre half with him and England lifting the World Cup in 2014 but that looks a distant dream, doesn’t it? Only time will tell.