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World Cup qualifying: Time to heal wound, says England's Ferdinand [Fri Sep 2nd, 2005]
Defender Rio Ferdinand says England will be out to heal the open wound of their rout by Denmark when they face Wales in Saturday's World Cup qualifier.
Designed as a warm-up for taking on Wales and then Northern Ireland next Wednesday, England suffered their heaviest defeat for 25 years in the 4-1 friendly loss in Copenhagen two weeks ago.
"You get a bad result one week and it's a natural reaction to go out in the next game and put it behind you and do well," Ferdinand told reporters.
"It's good we're playing so quickly because the wound is still quite open and it's a relatively short time since it happened. We're all desperate to get out there.
"You don't want to lose 4-1 against anyone, regardless of whether it's for club or country ... in terms of the press and our own personal embarrassment it all escalates and that's not something you want on your conscience."
Clearing that memory will involve Ferdinand keeping a tight rein on Wales striker and former team-mate, John Hartson.
The combative Celtic forward is likely to pose a real aerial threat to Sven-Goran Eriksson's re-shuffled defence, which has lost right back Gary Neville and central defender John Terry to injuries.
"He's a quality player," Ferdinand said. "When we played together at West Ham and we were playing well, I thought we had one of the best strikers in the league.
"He's a fantastic player who's done very well in Scotland and he's an absolute handful for sure. I played against him in training every day and he used to elbow me, kick me and headbutt me! But it was a good upbringing for me."
Ferdinand knows England will face a tougher time on Saturday compared to Wales' dour performance in last October's 2-0 home win at Old Trafford.
Though there is only Welsh pride to play for, after taking just two points from six qualifiers, the hosts will be looking to impress the Millennium Stadium crowd and manager John Toshack, who was appointed a month after the defeat by England.
"We're not expecting it to be the same as then at all," Ferdinand said. "Their fans will demand more of them, urging them to get forward more. We'll have to approach the game with the right attitude."
England go into the match lying second in Group Six, two points behind Poland, but with a game in hand.
PA Sport
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