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Ferdinand not worried by pitch

Ferdinand not worried by pitch


Ferdinand not worried by pitch

Rio Ferdinand has told his England teammates not to worry about the pitch surface they will play on in the Luzhniki Stadium. Ferdinand admits they have more experience on plastic turf, however, England have been practicing on one too.

Ferdinand said: "If you sit and think about the pitch too much, we are going to be feeling negative before the first whistle goes. "Russia might be more experienced at playing on the pitch in Moscow. But at the end of the day, I think quality will come through, and we hope we can apply ourselves and make sure we win the game in the right manner."

He added: "We have trained on an artificial pitch at times already during the past few days, so we know what it is about. We've not played on the pitch before but it is not something we will be taking into big consideration. We will be going out there just to play our own game."

Ferdinand is looking forward to the weight of responsibility in Terry, Cole and Neville's absence stating: "I take that responsibility every game anyway. I don't think it matters whether there are people out of the squad or out of the team. I think that is when the team should come together, no matter what, whether the team is at full strength or below that."