Rooney: I've never played better
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Sir Alex Ferguson - welcomes Ferdinand appointment
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is thrilled Rio Ferdinand has been named England captain.
Ferdinand, who missed the 5-0 victory against Portsmouth through suspension, replaces John Terry.
The Chelsea defender has been stripped of the honour by manager Fabio Capello following damaging allegations about his private life.
Ferdinand is promoted from vice-captain and follows in the footsteps of other United players like Gary Neville, Bryan Robson, David Beckham and Sir Bobby Charlton.
Ferguson said: "We are pleased for him and it's great for Manchester United to have one of our players captaining our country.
"Over the years we've had Gary, Bobby Charlton and Bryan Robson for 60-odd games or something so we're very proud of that."
Terry met with Capello and his assistant Franco Baldini at Wembley on Friday following allegations of an affair with the former girlfriend of England team-mate Wayne Bridge - also a former club-mate at Chelsea.
The Italian decided the Chelsea skipper could not go on as England's leader.
Ferdinand has experienced some desperate times in the game too, not least when he was banned for eight months for missing a drugs test. He missed Euro 2004 as a result.
Now the 31-year-old knows, fitness permitting, he will lead England into their World Cup opener against the United States in Rustenburg on June 12 and, should they progress that far, the final in Johannesburg on July 11.
For almost his entire career, Ferdinand has been compared to another West Ham idol, Bobby Moore, now he has the chance to follow him into immortality.
"When I chose John Terry as captain, I also selected a vice-captain and also named a third choice," said Capelloo on Friday night.
"There is no reason to change this decision."
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Wayne Rooney revealed that he had experimented with his own version of Sir Alex Ferguson's "hairdryer" treatment to help inspire Manchester United's second‑half performance on the night they won for the first time in San Siro and the England striker reached 25 goals for the season.
Rooney was visibly annoyed during a first half Ferguson later described as being "a catalogue of mistakes" and there were times when he could be seen gesticulating angrily in the direction of Darren Fletcher and, in particular, Nani. The forward later admitted that he had been so aggrieved by his side's shortcomings he had remonstrated with his colleagues during the interval.
"I was very frustrated in the first half with a lot of things," he said. "Some people were not doing their jobs right and I let my feelings be known. We learned from that and won the game, which I am delighted about. It was a bad start to the match for us but after that we did well to get back in it. We fully deserved to win and overall I felt we were the better team. I'm disappointed to concede the second goal because I felt we were in control, but 3-2 in San Siro is a great result."
Rooney led the comeback from a goal down with two headers in a clinical display of finishing that left Ferguson comparing him to Lionel Messi, Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo among the world's elite footballers. "Wayne Rooney, in the second half, continued his recent form," the United manager said. "He was absolutely devastating and they couldn't handle him. They just couldn't handle him in the second half. He was marvellous. He is improving all the time and he is one of the best players in the world now.
"I think this season, particularly in the last two months, we've seen a development in his game. Confidence has a lot to do with it. His basic ability is as good as any of those players, but what he needed to do was improve his scoring and that is what he is doing now. If he continues that trend, he must be regarded alongside all those players at the very top. That's 25 he has got now. I said recently that he could get 30 or more goals and he has a good chance."
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Manchester United fans should be demanding a preservation order on Sir Alex Ferguson more so than believing their green and yellow campaign against the Glazers will succeed.
Of course it is abhorrent to the fans that United have been lumbered with so much debt, that Sir Alex hasn't got the kind of transfer budget to compare with Chelsea and now Manchester City. But the biggest dilemma for United is not who would replace the Glazers as owners, but who can replace Sir Alex as manager?
Sir Alex has now collected his 32nd trophy and while possible candidates are bandied about one of the most vital aspects of the Glazers contentious Bond scheme prospectus was the warning over the future of their manager. Although the United fans want the Glazers out after nearly six years in charge, the trophies have not stopped, and that is down to Sir Alex.
Irrespective of who owns United, and how much they spend, the priority is the right manager. Invariably Sir Alex gets it right, although everyone makes mistakes and he has made his fair amount in the transfer market. But the most important signing United will make this summer is Wayne Rooney on a long-term contract.
There are few more accomplished all-round forwards in world football, and Glenn Hoddle told me that if he was picking a player to do a job, then any manager would go for Rooney rather than the flamboyance of someone like Kaka or Lionel Messi.
At Wembley, the United striker made the point again, with a headed winner that used to be the hallmark of another great number ten for United, Denis Law. Rooney has worked hard to improve his heading ability and of the 12 goals he has amassed in his last nine games, seven of the last eight have been with his head - and he also hit the foot of the post with another header. Incredibly, he had only scored four times with his head in his entire career before the start of the season.
Inevitably so much that happens at the highest level from now until the end of the season will be measured alongside England's World Cup hopes.
Fabio Capello and Franco Baldini were pretty animated in the Wembley stands when Michael Owen plundered the equaliser. For a while, it seemed the body language from England's coaching team was that Owen was playing himself back into their thinking.
Owen remains England's most experienced and prolific international goalscorer, and he showed that class of finishing by taking advantage of a lapse at the back by Villa, and his first time strike had all the hallmarks of a player that England would need in South Africa.
When he limped off having pulled up lame just before half-time with yet another of his trademark hamstring injuries, it was a tragic sight for both club and country as it has surely ruled him out of Capello's plans for the summer.
Never quite sure that Owen was worth a risk, Capello has ignored him throughout his tenure and would have needed something concrete to change his mind; a run of goals, a sequence of first team starts and staying clear of any serious injury worries.
Capello had no intention of taking a risk, and will feel vindicated in this approach by the fact that Owen can never be sure of avoiding another hamstring strain.
Only after Rooney took the field in place of Owen, Sir Alex allowed it to be known that the real reason behind his decision was the Rooney was suffering a touch of the after affects of flu. Perhaps, someone should have told Rooney why he was benched, as he seemed to think it was a slight niggle with his knee rather than the sniffles, and he didn't seem to be reaching for a tissue after the match.
Sir Alex is one of the more difficult managers to read as he keeps certain information very close to his chest. Closer to the truth is the need to rest Rooney. Capello won't be doing that back at Wembley on Wednesday, unless injury prevents it, and Sir Alex knows how difficult it is becoming to do without Rooney's rich vein of goalscoring form, as well as his relentless work rate.
No doubt Sir Alex would advocate that Rooney takes a rest with England, while Capello would love Sir Alex to allow Rooney to put his feet up for a few games before the summer. No chance.
Rooney joined the action with the final all square. Referee Phil Dowd awarded a penalty when he should also have sent off Nemanja Vidic for bringing down Gabriel Agbonlahor, with James Milner converting the spot kick. Owen equalised with the sort of goal that would have kept Rooney on the bench had he not limped off.
Villa might, and I say only might, have had a better chance with United down to ten men for most of the game. Martin O'Neill was sure that it was would have given Villa the edge they needed to see the game through.
Antonio Valencia earned Man of the Match for his assists, and his crosses were perfection, but there is still no one more potent that Rooney for club and indeed country.
Poor old Owen pointed out that this was his first real injury the season, and others are "getting their knickers in a twist" over his England future.
Rooney is the Player of the Season, let alone this Cup final, and Capello's hopes of actually winning the World Cup rest solely with him.
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Wayne Rooney has already scored 28 goals for Manchester United this season. Photograph: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto
Wayne Rooney just needs a medal with England to be crowned as an all-time great. That is the verdict of his Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville following another match-winning performance from the striker at Wembley yesterday.
A minor knee injury threatens Rooney's presence in the friendly against Egypt on Wednesday, but he will be a key part of Fabio Capello's plans for South Africa this summer. And Neville feels that would provide the crowning glory to an extraordinary career that has seen Rooney, 24, move on to a different level this season, when he has scored 28 goals, the last six of which have been headers.
"Wayne is a great player to play with," said Neville. "He has been brilliant for England too. The only thing he has to do for England now is go and win something. That is what England players have been striving to do for the past 40 years. That would really crown it off for him."
Neither Capello nor Sir Alex Ferguson would describe any individual player as irreplaceable. Yet both men would accept that without Rooney their respective quests would be in severe jeopardy should anything serious happen to the player.
"England cannot afford to lose him and neither can we," Neville added. "We have two months of important matches now and we need him fit for them. It is there for everyone to see. He is going through a peak moment in his career. He is looking dangerous every time he goes on the pitch and can score lots of goals."
Burnout is a worry for some, although not the man himself. And Neville does not feel Rooney will be weighed down by the burden of heavy expectation. "Wayne can handle all the comments and accolades, all the praise and criticism," he said. "He has been around a long time now and he has the experience of a 30-year-old really, even at such a young age, because he came into the Premier League at 16. He has played in European Cups, FA Cups, World Cups and European Championships. He has experienced the lot. He is maturing now."
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Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney admits he is in the form of his life ahead of England's friendly with Egypt at Wembley on Wednesday.
And Rooney wants to take his current hot streak onto the international stage with the Three Lions.
But scoring the goals to help England beat African Nations Cup winners Egypt is not what Fabio Capello really wants.
More than anything, the Italian needs Rooney to maintain his present standards into the summer, when he will be the man expected to fire England towards World Cup glory.
And the 24-year-old admits, in his current form, he is ready for anything.
"I hope I can make a difference for England at the World Cup," he said.
"I know if I have a good World Cup we will have a chance of doing well.
"I am in the best form of my life at present. I do feel unstoppable. I feel every game I play I am going to score. I am ready."
Including the goal he scored for his country against Croatia in September, Rooney has found the net on 29 occasions this season following his Carling Cup final match-winner against Aston Villa.
After a scan revealed there was no major problem with a knee injury that had been troubling him for a couple of weeks, Rooney is expected to partner Emile Heskey in a game Capello has arranged as a warm-up for England's second Group C game at the World Cup, against Algeria in Cape Town on June 18.
By the time that contest comes around, there should at least be some lessening of the spotlight on Terry, following the turmoil in his private life that cost him the England captaincy.
The Egypt game represents the first time England have been in action since the allegations about John Terry came into the public domain.
"I hope the fans don't turn against John Terry," said Rooney.
Wayne Bridge remains so upset about the turmoil caused to his own life that he has pulled out of the World Cup.
Although Chelsea supporters have remained steadfastly behind their man, to the extent of controversially booing Bridge at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, the England fans may be less forgiving.
Gary Neville, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole are just three of the players who have received less than warm welcomes on home soil in recent times. It would be no surprise if Terry's name was added to that list tomorrow.
But Rooney feels such an expression of discontent would be counterproductive.
"I have played in England teams when some of our own players have been booed. It has not been nice, not just for that one player, but for the whole team," he said.
"Leading up to a World Cup you want the fans behind you.
"We need their full support. It is really important.
"I hope he gets a good reception."