Anton Ferdinand has revealed how he was left crying his eyes out after seeing his hopes of being part of Sven-Goran Eriksson's England squad for the 2006 World Cup dashed.
Defender Ferdinand, who won 17 England Under 21 caps, had put himself in contention for a senior call-up after an impressive 2005-06 season for West Ham, who finished ninth and reached a memorable FA Cup final they lost to a Steven Gerrard-inspired Liverpool.
That campaign was then rising centre-back Ferdinand's first in the top-flight and he did enough to catch Eriksson's eye despite struggling with a hernia problem for the last few months of the season.