Ferdinand reveals seasoned authority of England regular

Rio Ferdinand was touted as the future of English defending for so long that it is still tempting to think of him as belonging to a golden era to come rather than as an established international. If such illusions were not dispelled during the World Cup, when he was indisputably England's outstanding performer, tomorrow's Villa Park friendly against Portugal should shatter them once and for all.

Manchester United's £29.1m capture from Leeds is just 23 years old, but his 27 appearances for England make him the fourth most-capped player in Sven Goran Eriksson's squad (behind Gareth Southgate, Michael Owen and Emile Heskey). Ferdinand is also approaching five years as an international, and serving his third manager (four counting Terry Venables' invitation to train with the class of '96), so it really is time to acknowledge him as a fixture rather than a fledgling.

Besides, with just three centre-backs among the players Eriksson has selected to face Portugal, the likelihood at some stage is that Ferdinand will be the senior member in a partnership with a player whose past weighs as heavily as his future. Pairing him with Jonathan Woodgate was uppermost in David O'Leary's mind when the former Leeds manager splashed £18m to lure Ferdinand from West Ham, yet they played a mere 12 Premiership games together before Old Trafford came calling.

Woodgate has much to prove, in terms of his fitness as well as his form, before he could seriously challenge either Ferdinand or Sol Campbell for his place. However, his former Elland Road colleague is convinced he has the ability to add to the solitary cap he won in 1999, assessing his attributes in the kind of language pundits have used to eulogise himself. "When I first went to Leeds, him and Alan Smith were the players who impressed me most," Ferdinand recalled. "Woody doesn't dive in, he's cool and doesn't get sucked into slide tackles. He stands on his feet and defends properly. Every time I played with him I felt comfortable. He was also someone I enjoyed being around at the training ground. He's a great lad."

Woodgate's conviction for affray following the assault of an Asian student tended not to be discussed when they trained or socialised together; their team-mates, said Ferdinand, felt he and his co-defendant, Lee Bowyer, needed light relief when not in court. "I've got great admiration for him and Bow in the way they coped, probably more so Bow because he kept playing right through both trials. That was unbelievable and showed great character."

Unaware, possibly, that Leeds' defeat at Birmingham last Saturday was Woodgate's first full competitive match in five months, Ferdinand added: "Woody has come back now and it seems like he was never away. What went on has been sorted out and it's time to let them stake their claim to get in the squad and into the England team."

Ferdinand was no angel in his teens, incurring a drink-driving conviction, but Woodgate was found guilty of a far more serious offence. The 22-year-old also has a long way to go before he comes close to matching Ferdinand's unusual blend of elegance and authority, topped off with pace. Comparisons had long been made with his West Ham predecessor, Bobby Moore. This summer they were consistently vindicated, but satisfaction over his own displays was tempered by disappointment over England's quarter-final exit.

"It's a fact that we faded in the second half of most games, for what reason I'm not sure," he said, seeking to make sense of the burn-out against Brazil. "We definitely had a winning mentality and went into every match thinking we'd win. Our chests were out when we were in the tunnel [before meeting Brazil]. And the night before, sitting in the treatment room, we were saying: 'We can beat them. There's no better opportunity to win the World Cup. A lot of the big teams have gone and others aren't playing particularly well'.

"If we had gone in a half-time still leading 1-0 we'd have been confident of winning." Mention of which is a reminder that an unnamed England defender (with a suspiciously good grasp of Tory politics) has reputedly said of Eriksson's interval rhetoric: "We needed Winston Churchill but got Iain Duncan-Smith." It was evidently not Ferdinand, who expressed his disdain for managers who "rant and rave while saying nothing" and praised the Swede's "calming influence".

The latter quality is likely to be sorely needed when the Londoner returns to Leeds in the red of their bitterest rivals a week tomorrow. Wondering aloud whether the reception from the crowd would be good or bad, he answered his own question in typically phlegmatic fashion: "To be honest, I'm not really bothered, and I'm not nervous at all." Fortunately for club and country, Ferdinand is equipped for both calm and storm.