Rio Ferdinand defends Qatar punditry role for England game

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has defended his decision to act as a pundit in Qatar for the England match.

The 34-year-old was criticised when reports emerged that the centre-back will perform as a pundit for England's game against San Marino for TV channel Al Jazeera.

Ferdinand withdrew from the Three Lions' World Cup qualifiers due to his strict training regime.

The defender wrote on Twitter: "Flown out for some pre-planned downtime... With a bit of punditry thrown in for a game I would have watched anyway. No different from what I did on the last 10-day international break."

Ferdinand was called up to the squad for the first time since June 2011.