But the Leeds United star also believes that the squad proved they have "plenty of bottle" to get the result which edged out Germany.

And he says they are now on a massive learning curve which will stand them in good stead for next June.

Ferdinand said: "We have to be honest. Against Greece we didn't pass the ball particularly well - from the back, from the midfield, from the front. There was no cohesion.

"If you compare the mood in the dressing room afterwards, I think there was more happiness after the Germany game than on Saturday when it was a touch quieter.

"There was more relief but maybe also some disillusionment about the fact that we didn't play well.

"We want to play well, we want everything to be perfect but those sort of games are brilliant for the boys.

"There are a lot of young players in there who haven't experienced this kind of football before and this is a great learning curve which should put us in good stead for the future.

"For example, we will learn from the fact we didn't pass the ball particularly well.

"But we are going to the World Cup and what we did show, even if the performance wasn't the greatest, was a lot of bottle and character to get out of the position we were in twice in the game.

"That speaks volumes for the squad and now we've got the chance to prove ourselves on the big stage. With the young players we've got, we can go on to bigger and better things.

"The potential here is phenomenal, unbelievable, with the amount of good players we have got - but we have proved nothing yet. The feet are on the ground."