Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand has accepted that he is concerned about England's group at the FIFA World Cup, He is confident that the Three Lions will get better of Panama, but will find it tough to defeat Croatia and Ghana.
Rio Ferdinand reflects on England's tough group at the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Speaking to GOAL following the FIFA World Cup draw Friday, December 5, Ferdinand said that England will go through some tough games in the group stage. He added that they could have got an easier draw and said:
"I weren't happy with England's group, you know. You want a group where you go, 'Listen, we can just sneak through there. Not too many hard games'. But we've got Croatia, [Luka] Modric-inspired Croatia, Ghana, and Panama."
"Now, Panama, I think, will be a team that we should win against, but Ghana, Croatia, I think they're going to make it difficult. They'll be tough games. I still back us to win the group and get out of the group, but I would like to have seen a little bit easier, an easier runway in that group."
England have been placed with Ghana, Panama, and Croatia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. They were not placed with any of the nations that were considered as easiest from the other pots: Iran, Haiti, and Tunisia.
Rio Ferdinand opens up on hosting FIFA World Cup draw
Rio Ferdinand has admitted that he was feeling nervousness while hosting the FIFA World Cup draw, but was happy with the effort. He said that the celebrities around him made it easy for him because of their experience and said:
"I was on the stage with Big Shaq [Shaquille O'Neal], Kevin Hart, Heidi Klum, Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, and all the other guys that was on there. It was just a great evening to be here, man. I've played football in front of some hefty crowds but I've never been this nervous for anything because... I think it's when I'm playing football it's a bit of a controllable nervousness."
"Whereas with this it's the uncertainty, the unknown. How am I going to react? Are my legs going to even be able to carry me where I need to go? So all of those things that you worry about and you're concerned about, but once I got out here after a couple of minutes, I felt nice and and the guys helped me. All these guys are super experienced. So being a part of that was great."
US President Donald Trump was also present at the draw, and he claimed that the United States have a slight chance of winning the FIFA World Cup.