Capello warning for Ferdinand

Fabio Capello has issued a warning to Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand, stating that he will have to play regularly at the domestic level if he wants his place back in the national team.

Ferdinand has suffered various injuries over the last two seasons and has recently fallen behind Bolton Wanderers' Gary Cahill and United's own Phil Jones and Chris Smalling in the international pecking order.

Capello kept Ferdinand on the sidelines in their last match against Montenegro and his comments after the match indicated that form will be the primary criteria based on which he will make future team selections.

“All these players who were injured, including Ferdinand and Gerrard, I hope will be fit in a really short time,” the Italian coach told reporters.

“Rio needs to play games. He has not played enough and last week he was on the bench.

“It’s my job, sorry, but I check all the players before I select them. If a player is on top form I select them. I select the player, not the name.”