Rio Ferdinand's brother Anton, now at Sunderland, wants to follow his big brother and play for England. He said: "My number one priority is playing well for Sunderland and being part of what we're trying to achieve here.

"Obviously I want to play for England too. I'm only 23 but I can see it being in my grasp for the next year or two if I do well for Sunderland. If I do that, then hopefully I'll get the call.

"If I don't, I need to work harder. There are people in the England squad who are doing things that I'm not doing at the moment and I've got to try to work out what those things are and get better at them."

"I don't think it will harm me that I'm playing here," he told the Sunderland Echo.

"Football is on television every week so I'm sure Mr Capello will get videos sent to him or he watches Football First like we all do.

"I'm not worried about that. If he's not at our games then I'm sure he's watching or he's got people watching."