Rio Ferdinand bids farewell to England while John Terry's international days are also coming to an end Ferdinand could have been forgiven some frustration. Against Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago, the Terry-Ferdinand axis would not be beaten. Ferdinand went off injured against Sweden with the score at 1-1 (it finished 2-2), returned to frustrate Ecuador and then kept Portugal at bay (before losing on penalties). During Ferdinand's 446 minutes in Germany, England conceded only one goal. The sheer weight of statistics reveal the impressive scale of Ferdinand's international career. He was called up for 123 squads, played 81 times, started 75, captaining the side seven times, scoring two/three times and received only four cautions in 6,257 minutes. He made his debut as a substitute against Cameroon on Nov 15 1997 aged 19 years and eight days. His final game came in the June 4 2011 draw with the Swiss aged 32 years and 208 days. He played under Glenn Hoddle, Howard Wilkinson, Kevin Keegan, Peter Taylor, Eriksson, Steve McClaren, Fabio Capello and was called up by Roy Hodgson last month but elected to swan off to Dubai for some television work. He phoned Hodgson on Tuesday to inform that he would be retiring. "At the age of 34, I feel it is right for me to stand aside and let the younger players come through, which allows me to concentrate on my club career," Ferdinand said in Wednesday's statement. The team looks in great shape and there is an influx of young, talented players coming through the ranks, which bodes well for the future. Hodgson, talking in Amsterdam yesterday, said: "I think his sentiments are admirable, fantastic. I agree with him; I think we do have a crop of interesting young players coming through and I think it's good he accepts maybe it's the right time for him to step aside. Hodgson hailed Ferdinand as among "a very special group of players." Yet any dispassionate appraisal of Ferdinand's England career must reach the inevitable conclusion that he could have achieved more. Suspensions, tactics, injuries and fall-outs inhibited him. In September 2003, Ferdinand caused chaos in the England camp by failing to report for a drugs test at Carrington, being banned by the Football Association, turning Gary Neville into Red Nev and eventually missing Euro 2004. There was a frequent caution on the part of his managers restricting Ferdinand from expressing himself with the ball. He had the ability to glide out from the back, being a libero, a sweeper almost in the Hong Myung-bo mould. "Rio is the most elegant central defender you can find," Eriksson said before the 2006 World Cup. He is quick, a good header, good tackler and has great technique. Yet he did not encourage him to step into midfield. Injuries, such as the devastating knee problem in 2010, also restricted Ferdinand. He fell out bitterly with Terry after the Chelsea captain racially abused his brother, Anton. Wednesday confirmed the ending of the Terry-Ferdinand era. "If push came to shove and we were desperate maybe we would turn to them - but it's a big but,"" Hodgson said. It's a time to move forward. It's time for me to get behind the players who are there. I'm not going to call on younger players necessarily, but to get behind the players I think will be the ones to take us to Brazil and do well for us. Even thinking about France in 2016, too. We have a lot of talented players. Wilshere has a great future. Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cleverley, Welbeck, Jones, Smalling plus the Under-21 team with Henderson who has come on. Zaha, Sterling, Chalobah, Ince. We aren't short, we don't need to keep shackling ourselves with what we have done in the past with these great players. We have to take a chance elsewhere. England have moved on. So has Ferdinand. On Wednesday night he said: "It's not an easy thing to do, retiring from playing for your country. I'm as passionate as the next man. I've always loved doing it. But there comes a time when your body tells you what you've got to do - and as much as I was trying to steer away from it, my body was a telling factor. If I want to carry on playing consistently at the top level something had to give - and international football was it. No trophies, no major individual accolades, but Ferdinand should be incredibly proud of his England career. He will always have the 5-1 in Munich and will always have the memory of two exceptional World Cups.