Ferdinand - impressed many people.

By Damian Spellman, PA Sport

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Ever since Bobby Moore - the only Englishman to lift the World Cup - hung up his boots, the nation has been waiting for someone to take on his mantle.

After a stunning start to his country's latest bid for glory, Rio Ferdinand has found himself thrust firmly into the limelight.

Brazilian legend Pele had no qualms about describing former England captain Moore as "the greatest defender I ever played against".

Now 32 years after the world's best footballer and West Ham's finest locked horns under the blistering Mexican sun in Guadalajara in a titanic World Cup finals clash, a pretender to the English lionheart's throne has emerged from the pack.

For Leeds defender Ferdinand, it is a huge burden to place upon the shoulders of a player who has yet to reach his 24th birthday, but his Upton Park roots and his cultured approach to the game have led to inevitable comparisons.

Here PA Sport looks at the qualities the £18million man possesses against those of Moore.

ANTICIPATION

Moore was a masterful reader of the game, anticipating danger before it developed and turning defending into an art form when brawn rather than brain was often the order of the day.

Ferdinand also reads the game with a maturity which belies his tender age and has managed to eradicate the lapses of concentration which characterised some of his early international appearances.

COMPOSURE

Moore's legendary calm was a feature of his game, and was perhaps best illustrated by the nerveless ball he played out of defence to set up Geoff Hurst's historic hat-trick goal in the 1966 World Cup final when a 100,000 voices inside Wembley Stadium and millions elsewhere were urging him to deposit it in Row Z.

Often the sign of a top-class player, he always appeared to have time in possession, a legacy of his positional sense and comfort on the ball.

Ferdinand also has the rare ability to operate among the muck and bullets without panicking, showing commendable calm under intense pressure especially in the 1-0 win over Argentina, although he is not afraid to put his foot through the ball when the situation dictates.

LEADERSHIP

Moore's art was to lead by example as he inspired confidence in his team-mates not only in his play but in his conduct both on and off the pitch.

On his death in February 1993, one tabloid journalist wrote: "God can tell Heaven's XI to start getting changed. The captain has arrived", while Sir Alf Ramsey described him as "my right-hand man, my lieutenant on the field, a cool, calculated footballer I could trust with my life".

Moore earned that reputation throughout a long and glittering career while Ferdinand is still making his way his way on the international stage, but he has been a rock for England in their Group F qualifying games and that has given the men ahead of him the confidence to build upon.

TACKLING

Moore's mantra as a defender was to stay on his feet, and it was a policy which served him well throughout his career.

His positional play enabled him to do just that, but his ability to time a challenge was just as important, often avoiding any contact at all with the player in possession.

That ability comes with experience, but Ferdinand too goes to ground as infrequently as possible, and the sight of him coming out of a well-timed challenge with the ball at his feet has been one of the features of England's World Cup campaign to date.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Moore in many ways made himself a great player as he sought and assimilated advice from people he respected and used it to develop his game.

Malcolm Allison was his mentor in the early days, while ballroom dancer Lenny Heppell helped to transform his game by showing him how to lead with his head to ensure that his bodyweight was going forward rather than rocking him back onto his heels.

Ferdinand was always a bright prospect in his days at West Ham, but his £18million move to Leeds and the defensive expertise of manager David O'Leary have helped him hone his game to the point where the comparison with Moore is something more than fanciful hyperbole.

PACE

Whatever else Moore had in his locker, he was not the quickest player over the ground.

However, he made up for a lack of genuine pace with all the other attributes which made up his game, intelligence, vision and confidence.

Ferdinand is sharp and has used his basic speed to good effect, but like Moore, he knows that a quick mind is perhaps even more important than flying feet.

USE OF THE BALL

Moore learnt very early in his career that defending is much easier if you know what you are going to do with the ball once you have won it, and his awareness of the men around him was key to his distribution.

Wayward passing by defenders simply means that pressure is relieved only temporarily, and his ability to pick out men with both short and long-range balls was a feature of his game.

Ferdinand has long been touted as the kind of ball-playing centre-half the English game has lacked for years, and his decision-making and pass completion rate have been impressive in the Far East.