Former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand reacted to the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw, which was held in Washington, D.C., on Friday, saying that he felt nice being part of the occasion, which noticed some attention-grabbing developments, together with U.S. President Donald Trump successful the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize.
Ferdinand, who was the conductor on the draw, stated that he was nervous earlier than the occasion began, however these nerves left a couple of minutes after the draw started.
“It was only a nice night to be right here, man. I’ve performed soccer in entrance of some hefty crowds, however I’ve by no means been this nervous for something as a result of… I feel it’s after I’m enjoying soccer, it’s a little bit of a controllable nervousness. Whereas with this, it’s the uncertainty, the unknown. How am I going to react? Are my legs going to even be capable of carry me the place I have to go?”
“So all of these issues that you simply fear about and also you’re involved about, however as soon as I obtained out right here after a few minutes, I felt good and and the blokes helped me. All these guys are tremendous skilled. So being part of that was nice,” Ferdinand stated on his YouTube channel.
The 47-year-old, nonetheless, expressed disappointment over England’s draw for the quadrennial occasion, admitting that video games in opposition to groups like Croatia and Ghana received’t be straightforward for The Three Lions.
“I weren’t pleased with England’s group, you realize. You desire a group the place you go, ‘Hear, we will simply sneak by means of there. Not too many laborious video games’. However we’ve obtained Croatia, [Luka] Modric-inspired Croatia, Ghana, and Panama.
“Now, Panama, I feel, shall be a staff that we must always win in opposition to, however Ghana, Croatia, I feel they’re going to make it tough. They’ll be robust video games. I nonetheless again us to win the group and get out of the group, however I want to have seen a bit of bit simpler, a neater runway in that group,” he stated.
