Terry trained with the England squad ahead of
the Croatia match
World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit says John Terry and Ashley
Cole should have played in England's crucial Euro 2008 game against
Croatia at Wembley.
The former France and Chelsea defender said leading players were
"thinking only of themselves" as England went out of the tournament
with a 3-2 defeat.
Terry and Cole were deemed not fit to start but both played three
days later in Chelsea's 2-0 win at Derby.
"I'm talking about very important defenders," Petit told a radio
channel.
"Can you imagine me not playing a big game for my country and then
three days later I play for my club?"
The loss at Wembley ended England's hopes of reaching Euro 2008 and
signalled the end of coach Steve McClaren's reign.
England captain Terry had been out of action with a knee injury
since 16 October and did not make the match-day squad against
Croatia, while Cole was on the bench but was not used by
McClaren.
"It was very interesting last Saturday to see players like John
Terry - who is the leader of Chelsea and England - wasn't part of
the Wednesday game and he was playing on Saturday," said Petit, a
1998 World Cup winner with France.
"It was very interesting to see also Ashley Cole playing against
Derby and he wasn't featuring last Wednesday as well.
"They were not in the national team and they were playing for their
clubs three days later.
"So before looking for excuses somewhere else, putting the trouble
on foreign players or managers, people have to be honest.
"That's what fans want to hear from players: 'We failed and we are
responsible for that.' We are not looking for excuses.
"I think people are thinking only of themselves, not for football
and not for the fans."
Chelsea boss Avram Grant said the decision not to risk Terry had
been taken by England's coaching staff.
"It was on the border(line), I think, with John Terry," he
said.
"England needed him badly but when you play an international and
you have not played for five weeks... it was the right decision by
McClaren."
Terry agreed, saying the England match had come just too soon after
his recent operation.
"I had long conversations with Steve McClaren and wanted to be part
of it. I was very close," he said.
"But I had only done a bit of running on my own at the (Chelsea)
training ground, trained with the youth team and then went over to
England, so it was probably about a day's full training.
"I would always play if asked, but you have to think of the bigger
picture, and if I'd had to come off after 50 or 60 minutes because
of the injury then I would have been no good to anybody."