Terry oozing in confidence and out to prove a point
England are oozing with confidence after an encouraging run of results leading up to the World Cup, and no-one is more so than Chelsea captain John Terry.
The 25-year-old has made remarkable progress under Jose Mourinho, marshalling a stingy Chelsea back-line and skippering the Blues to two Premiership titles while moulding himself into one of the world’s most respected defenders.
It was a different story four years ago when he was not part of the England setup, and he admits now that he just wasn’t up to the job.
“I was nowhere near it to be honest,” he said.
“At the time it didn’t even enter my head that I should be in the squad. Looking at it from a professional point of view I wasn’t ready.
“If you look at the players at the time, Rio (Ferdinand), Sol (Campbell), they were a different class and I wasn’t near them at the time. But I’m coming into this one ready and it’s up to me to prove myself.”
Since he made his debut against Serbia and Montenegro in 2003, Terry, seen as an “old school” centre-half, has grown in stature and has consistently produced polished displays.
He is now first choice in central defence ahead of both Ferdinand and Campbell and has little to prove.
But Mourinho likes to push his players to ever greater heights, and said before the World Cup that he wants to see Terry stamp his authority on big games like Brazilian ace Ronaldinho does in an attacking sense.
A goalscorer for Chelsea and tipped as a future England captain, Terry acknowledges that he still has work to do to be up there with the very best.
“You want to be the best and it is something I’m trying to do,” he said at England’s training camp in southern Germany.
“I’m improving and I’m trying to get there. I’m watching and learning all the time in training with Chelsea and with England.
“It’s not just coming away from training and getting on the bus and going to the hotel, I’m coming away and thinking about what I’ve done, what work I need to improve on.”
As captain of one of Europe’s top club sides, Terry said the one thing he had learned was a never-say-die attitude, and he sees that in the current England squad, whom many consider to be the best since 1966.
“None of the lads wants to lose and that’s a great thing,” he said.
“I think it’s an English thing. You get that every day. Speaking to other lads at club level every single day that’s what Chelsea training is like every day – you speak to the Man United lads, Liverpool, it’s all the same.
“Every day that tempo is set and when foreign players come in they have to step up a bit.”
And far from seeing England’s achievements in winning the World Cup in 1966 as a burden, he instead sees it as an inspiration and believes it can be matched in Germany.
“You look at what it did for everyone and for the country and everybody involved in the country footballing wise. It’s something we want to improve and if we could do it it would be a fantastic achievement,” he said.
“You look at those guys and I have nothing but respect for them. But it’s our time now and it is time for us to really go out and prove ourselves.”
Source:Soccer News
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