“We were all crying”- When England players thought their flight would crash after 2006 FIFA World Cup exit
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Rio Ferdinand
England’s legend Rio Ferdinand has shared how he once believed that the team would perish on the journey home from the 2006 World Cup. The former Manchester United defender turned TV pundit admitted that after experiencing severe turbulence, he and teammates Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard were praying for their life.
Rio Ferdinand was a member of the group that lost on penalties to Portugal in the round of 16 to be eliminated from the FIFA World Cup 2006. He said: “We’d just been knocked out of the competition by Portugal in the quarter finals and we had the worst flight back you can imagine. We got caught up in some terrible weather and everybody thought we were going to crash. We were all crying.”
The 2006 team, which had a number of well-known athletes and was largely regarded as England’s best in decades, is thought to have significantly underperformed at major competitions. Along with Ferdinand, Rooney, and Gerrard, other players like Michael Owen, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, and John Terry would have been on board as well.
Along with the other players’ girlfriends and wives, David Beckham, the captain of England at the time, was also traveling on the plane with his wife Victoria.
England’s squad for FIFA World Cup 2022
As they prepare to compete in their seventh straight World Cup, England will be hoping to experience victory for the first time since their success in 1966. Although Gareth Southgate has access to a talented group of players, the England manager will definitely be concerned with their poor Nations League performance.
The USA, Wales, and Iran make up Group B, and the Three Lions will be confident that they can get to the knockout stages without too many issues.Jordan Pickford, the goalkeeper for Everton, is traveling to Qatar as Gareth Southgate’s first choice for England. During the 2022–23 season, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luke Shaw, and Harry Maguire have all drawn their fair share of flak, but the Liverpool and Manchester United players have received the nod.
Also Read: 2022 FIFA World Cup, USA v Wales: Preview, Team News, Possible Line Ups, and Prediction
Reece James and Ben Chilwell of Chelsea have been ruled out of the World Cup owing to injuries, but Kyle Walker of Manchester City has been chosen despite having his own physical problems. Mason Mount, Declan Rice, and Jude Bellingham make up England’s young and promising midfield, and Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is an experienced head who has always been an easy option for the England manager. Conor Gallagher of Chelsea and James Maddison, the playmaker for Leicester, are chosen ahead of players like Emith Smith Rowe and James Ward-Prowse.
Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, and Phil Foden were always expected to be part of the 26-man roster. However, Southgate also needed to consider how to fill the remaining positions in the attack. It will be necessary for Jack Grealish to be creative down the flank, and Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford is back in style after having a difficult season in 2021–2022.
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Ujan Chakraborty
(1240 Articles Published)