Turning his back on England? Terry played for
Chelsea in the 5-0 win over Middlesbrough, but missed the matches
for England
Fabio Capello has privately expressed surprise at John
Terry’s sudden return from injury in Chelsea’s 5-0 win away to
Middlesbrough on Saturday. The Italian was forced to leave his
captain out of England’s recent World Cup qualifying wins over
Kazakhstan and Belarus because of a back problem and had expected
him to continue to rest until Chelsea’s Champions League tie
against Roma at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Although Capello did not have a formal agreement with Chelsea,
the England manager was under the impression before the weekend
that Terry would continue to recuperate because he was not fully
fit.
He was barely troubled during the match and came through the
comprehensive victory unscathed, but the uncertainty highlights the
potential for conflict between club and country when it comes to
managing Terry’s increasingly common injuries.
Terry suffered the back problem that continues to trouble him
during Chelsea’s Champions League draw with CFR Cluj almost three
weeks ago, since then he has played in two games for his club and
missed two for England.
The potential for conflict is heightened by the differing
attitudes of Capello and Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Chelsea manager,
towards managing injury. Capello insists that all of his players
must be fully fit to play, or even travel with the squad to away
games, whereas Scolari is prepared to let them play through the
pain barrier, speaking in awestruck tones on Friday about Terry’s
willingness “to die on the pitch”.
Terry’s instinct is far closer to Scolari’s, to such an extent
that in an interview last season he said he would be happy counting
his “medals from a wheelchair” at the end of his career if his
sacrifices led to serious injury, but he is unlikely to be indulged
in such a manner at international level and his continued
willingness to put his body on the line could even be detrimental
in the long term.
England do not have a competitive match until Ukraine visit
Wembley on April 1 and Terry could be rested from the intervening
friendly internationals against Germany, Spain and Slovakia,
particularly because Capello wants to look at alternative options
at centre back in the event of further injury. Terry will want to
play, however, and whether the FA will be happy to have the England
captain sidelined because of his commitment to his club remains to
be seen.