England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson claimed on Monday he had been impressed with Rio Ferdinand's recent form at the ongoing World Cup.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand wins his 50th England cap when they play Sweden on Tuesday - as Eriksson revealed the defender "woke up" after being axed from the team.
Manchester United defender Ferdinand is back to his best following Eriksson's decision to drop him from the qualifier against Austria at Old Trafford in September.
Eriksson said: "He has everything a central defender needs, one of the most elegant you can find. When I put him on the bench I think he deserved it at that time, but he never complained.
"He wasn't playing very well and when he doesn't play very well you ask 'is he injured?' Or, 'is he not concentrating?' Because if he is not injured and he is concentrating, he is one of the best.
"Now he is playing very well again, he has got one yellow card in an England shirt and he is coming up to 50 caps, which is just incredible and shows you his quality."
Eriksson also confirmed Gary Neville would again miss out through a calf injury and he did not know when the right-back would resume training.
"Gary is out, but we hope he can be okay for the next game," said Eriksson.
"We're not sure about him at the moment. Hopefully he will start running on Wednesday or Thursday but we'll have to wait and see."