Rio Ferdinand admits England's fringe players face six days of hell as they wait to discover if they have made Fabio Capello's final 23-man squad for the World Cup.

Ferdinand knows from bitter experience just how painful it is to get the axe from an England squad days before the start of a major tournament.

The Manchester United defender was an up and coming young star at West Ham 10 years ago and believed he was good enough to feature in Kevin Keegan's England team at Euro 2000.

But Keegan opted for the experience of Gareth Southgate instead of Ferdinand, leaving the centre-back devastated, and the England captain knows similar emotions will be felt when Capello reveals his choice on June 1.

"It is a nervous situation. There is pressure, you want to do well and be on the plane. I think for some people that is just the way it is going to be," Ferdinand said.

"I've been there. I've had that conversation about not being experienced enough, good enough, or however they want to dress it up.

I was left out of Euro 2000 by Kevin Keegan and was devastated. Whatever they say, you are not getting a chance to go on that plane.

"To have that said to you is not a nice thing, so I've got the experience of how to deal with that.

"I sorted out my feelings over the close-season. I went back to training and was a better professional, I trained better and harder and became a better player."

Seven members of Capello's provisional 30-man squad will suffer the same fate when the Italian knocks on their hotel door to deliver the bad news.

And the atmosphere at England's tranquil training base in the Austrian mountains will get more tense this week as the likes of Michael Dawson, Stephen Warnock, Matthew Upson, Michael Carrick, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Tom Huddlestone and Darren Bent try to prove their worth.

England's underwhelming 3-1 victory over Mexico at Wembley on Monday left Capello with more questions than answers.

Tottenham centre-back Ledley King got on the scoresheet but admitted he had been below-par in his first international for three years, which could open up a place for Upson or Dawson.

Everton left-back Leighton Baines fared little better and could lose his place as Ashley Cole's deputy to Aston Villa's Warnock.

Carrick will also be fearing the worst following another lacklustre display at the end of a poor campaign for the Manchester United midfielder.

Capello will also have to trim the amount of wingers in his squad and Wright-Phillips looks likely to be left at home, as does Sunderland striker Bent.

With only one more friendly, against Japan in Graz this weekend, before the squad is named, Ferdinand, 31, expects some fierce training sessions in the next few days as the hopefuls make their last push for a ticket to South Africa.

"There is still a chance for the players to put themselves into the manager's thinking (against Mexico). I'm sure a few did that and consolidated their positions," said Ferdinand.

"I think there were a few positives and negatives as well. The manager will have his own ideas about that.

"When the time comes I'm sure we do everything in the right way. The manager is a top-drawer manager and I'm sure he will sort it out."

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