The best F-ing England team ever features Rio Ferdinand and… | OneFootball

A FIFA fighter, fifties throwbacks and a fantastic nineties frontline. It’s the England F-Team.

There are lots of childish jokes to be made about F words, but we are above such things of course.

Goalkeeper: Tim Flowers

Five goalkeepers are eligible for this side, but not one of them was an England regular. As the most capped of the quintet, Tim Flowers takes the starting spot he could never wrestle away from David Seaman in the nineties. Messrs Foster and Forster battle it out for the number two spot. If you fancy a goalkeeper challenge, try naming the larger than life Sheffield United and Chelsea ‘keeper who made a solitary appearance for the Three Lions in the late 1800s.

Centre-back: Neil Franklin

England’s disastrous World Cup debut in 1950 saw them struggle in South America but their group stage exit may have been avoided if one of the country’s best players hadn’t fled to that very continent seeking his fortune. Neil Franklin had been a firm fixture in the Three Lions backline in the immediate post-war years but the promise of breaking free from the maximum wage saw him abandon his international career for the riches on offer in Colombia: a country expelled by FIFA at the time.

Centre-back: Terry Fenwick

One of several Three Lions flummoxed by the feet of Diego Maradona on his way to scoring one of the World Cup’s greatest ever goals in Argentina’s 2-1 win over England in 1986, it’s worth remembering that Terry Fenwick’s seemingly half-hearted attempt to stop Maradona was largely due to him already being on a booking and sailing close to the wind after escaping an early bath for elbowing the legendary number ten in the throat. Fenwick’s pace usually got him out of sticky situations, but the emergence of the equally rapid, yet more reliable, Des Walker ended his international career.

Centre-back: Rio Ferdinand

The most capped player in this XI, Rio Ferdinand made 81 appearances for his country over 14 years. The ‘Golden Generation’ star may well have entered the exclusive 100 club if he didn’t miss a year of international football due to a lengthy ban following a missed drug test. Fellow Manchester United legend Bill Foulkes is in on the bench for the F-Team, where he’ll sit alongside 1982 World Cup squad member Steve Foster.

Right wing: Trevor Francis

Trevor Francis starts on the wing as opposed to his favoured position up front. That tactic won the 1979 European Cup Final for Nottingham Forest, so if it’s good enough for Brian Clough, it’s good enough for the F-Team. Famously Britain’s first million pound player when he arrived at the City Ground following his move from Birmingham City, Francis had established himself as a regular in the Three Lions side by the age of 23. His pace and precision, whether in-front of goal or whipping crosses in at speed, made him the star-boy of English football at the end of a troublesome decade.

Central midfield: Ron Flowers

Wolves icon Ron Flowers won three league titles during the Old Gold’s golden era, with his midfield masterclasses at Molineux cementing his spot as an England mainstay in the late fifties. After playing every match of the Three Lions 1962 World Cup campaign, scoring twice from the penalty spot, he didn’t get a minute of action as the battle-hardened, good role model to have around the place, Jordan Henderson type for Alf Ramsey’s tournament winning squad four years later.

Central midfield: Gerry Francis

The seventies was a debacle of a decade for England, largely due to Don Revie’s failure to replicate his club success at international level. Revie was unfortunate to have lost a promising midfield partnership of Colin Bell and Gerry Francis, with both players suffering long-term injuries that ended their Three Lions careers prematurely. Francis seemed destined to lead his country for years, having become captain of the side at just 23, but won his twelfth and final cap just a year after taking the armband.

Attacking midfield: Phil Foden

A fully fit Francis can go box to box, leaving Phil Foden to flourish foraging forward. There are plenty of candidates battling for the Three Lions number ten spot among his modern day counterparts but the Man City man doesn’t face the same level of competition when it comes to the F-Team. Swindon Town hero Harold Fleming is no Jude Bellingham. Billy Furness and Cole Palmer are polar opposites, whilst fifties throwback Johnny Fantham doesn’t match up to the Morgans of Rogers and Gibbs-White.

Left wing: Tom Finney

Frightening full-backs and fixing faucets, the Preston Plumber takes his rightful spot on the wing. The Second World War saw Tom Finney having to wait until he was 24 before his international career commenced, as one of nine debutants in England’s first match for seven years. The Deepdale deity scored from the right-wing in that game, but his ability to play anywhere across the frontline soon saw him moved to the left to make way for Stanley Matthews.

Their maiden game together saw the Three Lions put t10 past Portugal, with Finney putting on such a dominating display that the Portuguese right-back and captain Alvaro Cardoso was substituted in the first-half and never played for his country again. His performances for club and country over the next decade led to Matthews ranking him alongside Best, Di Stefano, Maradona and Pele as the greatest players the game has ever seen.

Striker: Les Ferdinand

The famously fierce competition for an England spot amongst forwards in the nineties was never more evident than Les Ferdinand’s failure to get a minute of action at Euro ’96, despite winning the PFA Player of the Year award that year. A partnership with Alan Shearer at club level the following season did little to aid his international prospects, with Ferdinand keeping the bench warm again two years later, as an unused member of Glenn Hoddle’s squad in France

Striker: Robbie Fowler

Unlike Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler did see some action at Euro’96. Despite his stunning form for Liverpool, Fowler didn’t make his Three Lions debut until shortly before the tournament but was seen as Shearer’s successor in the England’s number nine role. He did end up wearing that shirt at the 2002 World Cup, but persistent injury issues had taken their toll by then, with Michael Owen and Emile Heskey chosen as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s favoured pairing. A substitute appearance at that tournament proved to be his international swansong at the age of just 27.