A red faced Rio Ferdinand responds to being ridiculed for his pre-match England prediction ahead of the game against Scotland on Friday.
The ex-England and Manchester United defender won’t be allowed to forget this howler in a hurry after the Scots held their own at Wembley in Euro 2020.
Everyone was seemingly confident for the Three Lions following their win against Croatia whereas Scotland were defeated by Czech Republic.
There was plenty of praise for the English from their own pundits after the narrow win victory, but there has been an abrupt change of tone since last night.
Steve Clarke’s men had been written off entirely by many big names with some heavy scorelines were predicted in favour of Southgate’s side.
However, that wasn’t the case and Scotland held firm and in truth England got lucky, coming away with a point.
That makes Rio Ferdinand’s pre-match prediction look even more awkward looking back.
The confident former Premier League man insisted he would be completely relaxed watching the game, though it’s doubtful that would have been the case whilst watching Lyndon Dykes’ effort cleared off the line.
Or the time when Stephen O’Donnell’s volley was just kept out by Jordan Pickford.
Or when Che Adams went within inches of the post from the tight angle and England somehow held on to a clean sheet.
Ferdinand told the BBC pre-match: “It’s a huge game. I can’t wait. Nothing to fear, and we will go down and get our seat and watch it. Looking forward to it.
“England are going to win. I can’t see anything else, I’m telling you. I’ve never been this confident about a game in a major championship.”
— 𝗔𝗠𝗬 𝗠𝗔𝗖𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗗 (@Amy__Macdonald) June 19, 2021
In the aftermath of the game, Scotland fans were very keen to highlight the bold and badly aged prediction, and who can blame them?
Rio has since responded and to his credit, he took the banter in good faith. To be fair he had no choice. Responding to one Scottish fan.
He tweeted: “Good afternoon big man” followed by several laughing emojis and a few Scotland flags, Ferdinand said: “Pundit / Fan… easy to get carried away at times!”
Even Line of Duty star Martin_compston wrote in response to the viral video: “😂😂 good thing they don’t mind replaying gazza’s goal”
😂😂😂
Pundit / Fan… easy to get carried away at times! https://t.co/o6UgyYkmdP— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) June 19, 2021
Fans reacted as Rio Ferdinand responds to being ridiculed for his pre-match England prediction…
@AldoScrim89: Still no public congratulations for Scotlands performance though Rio? We can all get carried away in the moment I’ll give you that though
@saintnoddy: How did that go @rioferdy5
@thehouseheadz: your sucking diesel now son
@TayyibAbu1: One of the best singer/songwriters around, showing how daft silly Ferdinand is in his useless punditry.
@ajlinning: He always gets ahead of himself!
@KieranHarm: As soon as he said that, I turned to my dad and went “well we’re not winning this then are we?” This little speech from Rio had “clipped up and posted all over Twitter” vibes absolutely immediately.
@IanBurnell27: They will just never learn will they
@AliWallace7: He’s a fucking mong, get it up every single English cunt who wrote us off
@mjws93: Why would he congratulate you for a 0-0 draw? You should have scored a couple if anything.
@bobblehat1983: And this is why the Welsh, Scottish and Irish will never support England!
@BrianDRobertson: @rioferdy5 sometimes we all get it wrong. Am sure he will hold his hands up later on with @GaryLineker #ENGSCO PS Never listen to pundits. They invariably get it wrong.
@1872Jake: Didn’t expect to see Amy MacDonald calling Rio Ferdinand a clown on Twitter but here we are
@broomhilldons: A bit of humility, knowledge & respect next time maybe Rio? 🏴
@ChalmersMirelle: 😂😂! Come on Rio you should know more than anyone that having had a boss as a Scot! You should never give up Scotland had the better chance and should’ve scored!
@cbradytweets: Rio doesn’t do himself any favours, get the 0-0 draw against the Czech Republic and he will want Southgate signed up for another 8 years….
@cavanaghm: Thanks for providing the pre match team talk for the Scotland team, Rio. It worked a treat! 🤣
@lachlanthom: Pundit / Fanny
@jamiern50: Not carried away, disrespectful! England are poor open your eyes, I was very confident going into the game we would get something and a little disappointed it wasn’t all 3 points
@DarrenJonesDJ: When the final whistle went I thought that comment would bite you on the arse lol
@Scott_H_74: I think English arrogance played a huge part in your comments rio. The scotland teams performance deserves some credit, don’t you think? England never got near to matching Scotland’s workrate and desire, and we played some good football also!!!
@bluearmy2015: Is this the same rio Ferdinand who was way over the top when England beat Croatia, a Croatian team who never actually wanted to win the game
@JCBBELL83: Was I the only England fan, that said this won’t be a walk in the park. Scotland were awesome, Billy Gilmour what a player. You guys will beat Croatia. Loving Human Demands by the way. #EnglandvsScotland
@MICKMEENAN: Lucky Foden, Kane and Sterling didnt start. Oh wait….
@marcrf1874: You showed massive disrespect
@liam_carter67: How does he keep getting jobs talking about football?
@rjb_1998: Stop letting rio do punditry for the love of god
@CraigDavidson96: Right up ye, fuckin arrogant wanker
@azizdopleganger: Honestly it’s guys like Rio, Neville, Lineker who keep praising Southgate and are partial towards him.He’s made a mockery of one of the best squads. When will they provide some constructive criticism?We still wait. Three lions wont win ISL also if they played there under Southgate
@RyanGoodfelloww: The most arrogant egotistical cunt you’ll ever meet and he represents 90% of England because they’re all the same #WeeGuys
@NockelsJack: As soon as I heard him say this I knew we’d bottle it
@DenBoy2010: Top punditry as usual @rioferdy5 this is why the world love seeing England lose. Arrogance and over confidence. No chance your doing anything in this tournament
@Iamscottishnot1: Note: @rioferdy5 not on @BBCSport team for today’s football schedule. Not a surprised after his more than animated verbal vomit.
@garyfooty: They always ask “why do you hate us?” And we always tell them we don’t, we just hate this type of media. Always
@RUSHI_E_MAGUIRE: You’d think he’d learn and stop putting his foot in it. Genuinely one of the worst pundits on TV.
@TartoonArmy: Surprise surprise – @rioferdy5 talking shite again.
@GavinODonnell18: Fucking weapon. Cannot stand these arrogant English cunts.
@martindaly87: Na man not having that!! Its just the typical arrogant English mentality! Scotland were class last night and England didn’t know how to cope with us! Be happy yous held on for a draw.
@JA_Watts: Bury this man’s punditry career. Bloke’s an absolute tool.
@accountantfaith: It’s this arrogance that makes Scotland try harder and pisses us fans off so much!!
@leitchyslegends: Total disrespect for the Scottish national team …..do we really expect anything else from the English media ?
@brian_cathie: How did that work out for you Rio? @rioferdy5 and congratulations to @billygilmourrr on a superb man of the match performance
— DumyatSummit (@DumyatS) June 19, 2021
🤣🤣🤣👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻did ye @rioferdy5 pic.twitter.com/rIX4IGBn2G
— lubo77 (@lubo771) June 19, 2021
You must be logged in to post a comment Login