Rio Ferdinand believes Capello will restore England captain armband

LONDON - Rio Ferdinand believes that coach Fabio Capello will restore the England captain’s armband to him from Steven Gerrard.

Capello has refused to confirm whether a fit-again Ferdinand would regain the honour, even as Gerrard continues to get praised for how he deputised in the World Cup and has carried that on in the two Euro 2012 qualifying wins.

Asked, though, if he was concerned about the captaincy being returned, the Sun quoted Ferdinand,as saying: “I think Capello said that a while ago. I think he answered it the last time the squad were together.”

Capello did indeed say after last month’s 2-1 friendly win over Hungary at Wembley - in which Gerrard scored both goals - “Rio is the captain, Gerrard is the vice- captain. Rio will be fit, we hope shortly, and he will be captain.”

But since then Gerrard has also been inspirational in the Euro 2012 triumphs - 4-0 over Bulgaria and 3-1 in Switzerland.

And asked about the captaincy following the impressive win in Basel on Tuesday, Capello replied: “For me the performance of the player is important, not the armband. It is not a priority for me. The armband is not important.” (ANI)