Ferdinand - a fan of Samba football.
RIO HAS A BRAZILIAN PLAN
By John Curtis, PA Sport
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Rio Ferdinand has revealed the depth of his love of Brazilian football by
admitting he will one day name his first son after their former legend Romario.
Ferdinand was a big fan of the player who helped the Brazilians to lift the
World Cup in 1994 in the United States.
Now the Leeds skipper will come face to face with the modern day samba stars
in Friday's quarter-final clash in Shizuoka.
But Ferdinand is relishing the chance of doing battle with Ronaldo and Rivaldo
in a tournament where his reputation has grown considerably and prompted
constant speculation he will soon join Manchester United.
He said: ``I am thinking of naming my first child after Romario because it is
a different name, because he was a legend in the football field and also because
it includes my name `Rio' in at the end.
``That is the plan at the moment. I don't want to have a normal, boring name
for my kids when I eventually have any.
``I used to watch Romario when he was at PSV Eindhoven and he was a
magnificent player, a great goalscorer and one who will be remembered as one of
the very best.''
Ferdinand admitted: ``When you are a kid, you watch the World Cups and the
team always to beat is Brazil. They were always the best players and the ones
you want to watch.
``As a kid I would always say I would bite off my arm to play against them.
``I won't do that but to be playing them in the quarter-finals is going to be
wicked. This is what you aspire to and I am really going to make the most of
it.
``This is definitely the biggest game of my career. It's a chance to get to
the World Cup semi-finals and these chances don't come around many times so you
want to be able to produce on the day.''
Ferdinand added: ``The current Brazil team are now quite rightly the
favourites for the tournament. They can score goals and are always looking
dangerous.
``Ronaldo is the man for me but they also have the likes of Rivaldo and
Ronaldinho and many, many more.
``This is one of the biggest challenges any defender can face. Argentina posed
a great threat and this is going to be no different.
``It's going to be a tough game. We went and watched them against Belgium and
they showed their flashes of brilliance but I am sure we are more than capable
of doing well against them.
``We're just staying focused. We've got a lot to do still. There are still
three more games hopefully to play and this is going to be a tough test.
``There's no time to start getting big headed and stuff like that and that not
in the make-up of the players in the squad.''
Ferdinand has been delighted with the form of Leeds club-mate Danny Mills in
the right-back role.
He said: ``Danny has got in with someone (Gary Neville) being injured which is
unfortunate - but you've got to be good enough to take that chance and Danny has
done that.
``He's done it with considerable ease to be honest. He is playing very well
and all the doubters are eating their words.''
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