Rooney, Ferdinand & Cole - No More Talk

Boot Spy — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:00:00 GMT

First was the epic "Write the Future" South Africa themed TV trailer. After this Nike gave us the chance to create some iconic boots "Inspired by You". Next came the UK's largest advertising billboard encouraging England stars to "Play to be Remembered".

Yesterday saw Nike host a "No More Talk" event at their famous NikeTown London flagship store. England Captain Rio Ferdinand was joined by international team mates Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney to say their farewells to the fans before departing for South Africa...

<@PDS_WSVIDEO=nike_nmt_ferdinand_1_SB.wmv>

This is what No More Talk is about. After months of speculation, discussion and debate, the selections are made.

"The nation's 23 decided. Rio leads the line. Our captain will do his talking on the pitch. It's all about performance. The chat stops here. The players are at their peak. Let the play begin. Let them Write The Future. NO MORE TALK"

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

England Captain and Nike T90 endorsee Rio Ferdinand was also given the platform to share some insights into the mental and physical preparation for such a monumentous tournament. Speaking on stage to the selected VIP audience, Ferdinand was quizzed on some of the things that go into a top flight professional approach:

On the England Team Morale:

Rio Ferdinand: "[It's] Really good. I think in periods when you’re together for blocks of days like we have been, you get to know each other better. And the training has been really good, we’ve had two games, two tough games, and we’ve learned a lot from them games. So, hopefully it all bodes well for the tournament."

On preparing for the different climate and environment in South Africa:

RF: "We hope that the training we have done will put us in good stead. I think that training in the altitude that we trained at was difficult at first, the air is much thinner, the ball moves different. So it can make things feel a bit different, but hopefully we’re used to it now. And we’re going to be over in South Africa for a good few days before the tournament starts. And hopefully we can get acclimatised and hopefully we will be alright for when the tournament starts."

On England's Warm Up friendlies:

RF: "It’s nice to get the cobwebs out before the tournament starts. In previous tournaments we have gone into the games winning 6-0 against Jamaica and teams that haven’t qualified. These two teams have qualified for the championship and we’ve beaten both. Not played particularly well, but we’ve done the job in hand. We know, as I said, performance-wise we’ve much to improve on. But we’re working towards that."

On being the Captain of your country for the tournament:

RF: "To go to any World Cup is a great achievement but to go there as Captain is an honour in itself. Once we get out there and lead the team out for that first game it will be a very proud moment for myself, my family and anybody else connected with me. But the most important thing is the team and as long as the team play well, it doesn’t really matter who’s Captain: as long as we go out there and win, I’ll be a happy man."

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

On the squad players who missed out on South Africa:

RF: "I missed out on the 2000 European Championships, the manager didn’t pick me, I was devastated just like the lads will be now who haven’t been picked. But I re-evaluated my game, was I being professional enough, was I focussing on football 100% all of the time, was I training as well as I could do, was I working as hard as I could do on certain aspects of my game. I looked at everything, went away in the summer, started pre-season early, and trained harder and then, as I said, it kind of… I got better from thereon really and my luck kind of changed.

If you work hard then you get the luck and I’m sure that these guys – they’re professional and they all work hard and stuff and I’m sure that next season they’ll come back fighting and stronger."

On No More Talk:

RF: "Obviously as with the campaign, there’s no more talk now. It’s about going out there and performing, and that’s what we intend to do. We’ll give it our 100 per cent best efforts, go out there, get the trophy, and bring it back to the fans."

Nike also chose the No More Talk event to showcase the winners of the Inspired by You Elite Series competition, where fans were invited to submit their own inspirational message, with the best adorning the football boots of two of England's finest. Unlike most of the other "attendees" who wanted to pap the players, the SoccerBible Boot Spotters were eager to see more of what Rooney and Cole will be wearing in South Africa. But more on that later...!

Football News : World Cup, Rooney, Cole.A

Rooney, Ferdinand & Cole - No More Talk