“England win, I can’t see anything else.”
Never has a 0-0 draw made so many people so disappointed, and made so many other people so happy.
England’s lacklustre performance against a superb Scotland side at Wembley on Friday night has a lot of England fans eating their words. Giddy from the 1-0 win over Croatia, optimism was flowing through the country at levels reminiscent of 2018, after wild predictions of comfortable victories were being thrown out left, right, and centre.
One such England fan who got a bit too confident was former Manchester United defender and BBC pundit Rio Ferdinand.
During one of the many segments the BBC dedicated to previewing this game in the week building up to the fixture, Ferdinand said: “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 have been keen to highlight this bold and badly aged prediction, and who can blame them? You’ve got to take the small victories even after 0-0 wins sometimes.
And Rio has now responded. To his credit, he took the banter in good faith. Responding to one Scottish fan who 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!”
😂😂😂
Pundit / Fan… easy to get carried away at times! https://t.co/o6UgyYkmdP— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) June 19, 2021
And he’s not wrong. If you’re not allowed to get carried away after a win, what is the point in following the game?
