Ferdinand relishes prospect of Ronaldo

It is not just the spreading-waist generation, as those who treasure the romance of the selecão's 1970 triumph have been described, who love Brazil. Among the younger disciples, drawn to the legend by Socrates, Junior and Zico, rather than Pele, Jairzinho and Gerson, is Rio Ferdinand.

Not that Ferdinand is unaware of the allure of the men who made England's prospective quarter-final opponents great. Having watched, at home in Peckham, the Brazil of his youth on television, Ferdinand absorbed the rest on video. Now he is on the brink of becoming one of the surprisingly small group of Englishmen to play against Brazil in the World Cup finals and he is finding it hard to contain his anticipation.

Brazil still have to beat Belgium in today's second-round tie at Kobe but Ferdinand could not resisting thinking about a tie which as only previously occurred in the 1962 and 1970 finals. Two images from the latter stick in his mind: "Bobby Mooro's tackle and the handshake at the end while they are changing shirts."

Since Harry Redknapp, his former manager at West Ham, had a blown-up photograph of the latter incident behind his desk at the club's training ground this is hardly surprising.

Given Ferdinand's form in this World Cup, and his Hammers' heritage, Ferdinand's match-up with Ronaldo is seen as the natural sequel to the Moore-Pele duel.

Ferdinand is relishing the prospect. "It is brilliant to play against someone you look up to, one of your heroes, a Batistuta, a Ronaldo, on the biggest stage. With Ronaldo it is crucial to maintain your concentration levels. He goes out of the game for a while but then has flash of brilliance and turns it on its head. He's not as fit as a couple of years ago but still has great ability."

If they meet Ferdinand will be after Ronaldo's shirt. He did not get Batistuta's as the Argentinians refused to swap shirts but has claimed those of Jay-Jay Okocha and Marcus Allback so far. On Saturday he held onto his own shirt. "I scored my first England goal in it. I'll be framing that one," he said.

Ronaldo was also on Sven Goran Eriksson's mind. Eriksson regularly had to deal with the problems posed by the Brazilian when coaching in Serie A and he said: "When Ronaldo is fit he is top in the world. It is dangerous to be one-on-one against him as he is so strong he will turn you, he is so quick he will then go away from you if there is space behind. He can do everything with the ball."

As Ferdinand made to leave there was time for one last question. "What if Belgium win, did you ever admire any of their players?" He replied: "Enzo Scifo." A good choice. The Italian-born Belgian, who hit the post against England in the 1990 tie won by David Platt, would not have looked out of place in a Brazilian side. But neither would Ferdinand.