Ferdinand focus on United, not England

Rio Ferdinand maintains his focus remains on Manchester United's pursuit of an unprecedented fourth Barclays Premier League title rather than lifting the World Cup with England.

The 31-year-old believes United must win their remaining five games to overturn a two-point deficit to Chelsea after a tumultuous week for the defending champions, who were beaten 2-1 by the Blues at Old Trafford last weekend before exiting the Champions League due to an away goals loss to Bayern Munich.

Despite the prospect of leading England to South Africa as one of the tournament's favourites, Ferdinand admits: "It's the last thing on your mind, if I'm honest."

He added on Sky Sports News: "All I'm thinking about is the result the other night (against Bayern Munich), which was very disappointing and now I'm thinking about Blackburn.

"I don't think much past that, to be honest.

"We don't have an England game between now and the end of the season so my thoughts are solely on Manchester United."

Sir Alex Ferguson's side meet Blackburn on Sunday, Manchester City (April 17), Tottenham (April 24), Sunderland (May 1) and Stoke (May 9) in matches which will determine if Ferdinand lifts the Premier League trophy once again.

He added: "There's five games left to try to win the title.

"It's not over. It's not in our hands, but we need to make it as difficult as possible for everybody else by winning each and everyone on of our games."