the_greatman,i know he is a good player so was t henry but never won the big one
to called the best in the world.

What happened to Ben Foster surely he's fit again now, he was shaping up to be one hell of an English Keeper!

firstly i am a gunner fan. but i think rio is right. if he is just saying it because he doesn't like almunia and it's a personal attack then i don't agree.

but his point about almunia really wanting to play for spain is valid. playing for country is an honour and the whole international scene in any sport is about proudly representing your country. of course there are certain rules like you can play for your parents' country of birth etc. but these are justified. but playing for a country because you got citizenship through working, this is not in the right spirit of international competition.

eduardo playing for croatia is a case you can argue about. but the fact that he was there since he was like 15 means he has certain allegiances with that country and it is in his heart. one could argue he chose croatia because he didn't think he'd make brazil squad. i think if that was his reason then it was wrong, because i bet he would get selected now.

Rio is a douche plain and simple.

Unfortunately, I have no doubts that all of us make mistakes when younger, but most of us do not live our lives publicly as Ferdinand does. When he was a player at West Ham, my daughter's friends learnt first hand of Rio and his penchant for certain things immoral shall we say. As for him becoming a perfect role model since , I beg to differ....Many celebrities/ sportsman take on projects that deflects from what they are truly like. Ask the taxi drivers parked outside a famous nightclub how they were patronisingly 'paid off' just so Rio could park his Bentley smack bang in front of the door. He hasn't changed much, and whilst some of us have been described as ignorant on here tonight, some of us are not naive....his behaviour at the Chelsea Man U game last season did not signal 'excellent role model' either.....or 'model professonal'. If the person posting that truly thinks it, then standards have dropped considerably I'm afraid.

Amaan A, although he's never been World Player of the Year, he has been in FIFA's World Cup Team of the Tournament. - TWICE.

rio for pm

Rio where was Owen born???

if ferdinand is that good why has he never been voted buy fifa as one of the best .hes has never been in the top 3 never .that little italian guy has won it (world player of the year) so all you man u funs shut ur mouth
and hes a drug cheat .

are u 300%english

Most of these comments are absurd! Rio is one of the top 5 best CB's in the world, bar none. Yes, he has made some mistakes in his youth, but who hasn't? He has since grown to be a model professional, an excellent role model and natural leader on the pitch. Inconsistent?? Totally laughable! Some of these comments appear as if they were made by people who knew nothing about modern football....................................
Wait, that must be the case! All Rio is saying here is that he believes England shouldn't be a second choice or "last resort" for a player. Now, if Almunia had been called up by Spain AND called up by England and Almunia said he wanted to play for England, then Rio would be having no complaints. That is what he is saying here.

From christian o, on Wed 8 Oct 10:03PM "smacks of rascist (racist - by the way) intolerance" - Are we reading the same article????
Ignorance abounds!

Roooooonnnnnnneeeeeyyyyyy

i agree your comments are stupid, did he not just win the champions league and premier league last season so how can you call him sub-standard?. i think rio as been plagued by these comments all his life, inconsistant??? etc if he was purely white then i think people will be calling him a master player. people always make these comments about black footballers (especially ex players) but the ones who makes these comments are normally not good at football anyway??? i wonder how many of you will be as good as rio? (inconsistant lol)

i believe ferdinand is just a lucky player, he aint no good!

Ferdinand has no objections to Hargreaves playing for England though,I have no doubt. Why do players like Ferdinand who failed to take drugs tests, find themselves full of such self importance as to be giving their opinions on all and sundry in the media. Too many of them constantly giving their two penneth when what they should be doing is getting on with the job they are well and truly overpaid for. Yes there are some sportsmen that can still claim to be important role models, with decent opinions, but Ferdinand? you are having a laugh!!Thuggo Terry is another one but lets not go there.

Let Alumina play, at least Arsenal will have another "English man" in their squad then!
He's not a bad keeper either!

is Rio going to say the same thing about Capello and Hargreaves?
im not big fan of either Capello or Aluminia, but hes probably as good a goalkeeper as we could have at the moment

ferdinand took a drugs test 2 days after he missed the other one that checked for drugs in him within six months he passed so wot's ur porblem everyone knows rio's a top cb maybe best in the world he plays awesome and even john terry said he's the most consistant player in the premier league

Rio, I have always respected your comments, especially your campaign against rascism. Your remarks here, smacks of rascist intolerance. If he naturalises to be an Englishman, he no less English than you are.. and deserves to represent his adopted country if he qualifies.. I expect a little better from you.. Christian

The man in whit, Ferdinand is a good player not a fantastic player, he is to inconsistant for Utd and England he gets caught ball watching to many times and its only the players around him that cover his mistakes, ask Crespo in the champions leauge semi against AC Milan he scored 2 and both were down to Ferdinand, good job Utd have Vidic