Terry wants England to be more streetwise

England captain John Terry believes his team must become more streetwise if they want to end the country’s long wait for World Cup glory.

After a fortnight in which diving has been top of the British football agenda due to controversial incidents involving Eduardo, Wayne Rooney and Aiden McGeady, Terry hinted that England’s stars have often been too honest for their own good.

While Arsenal striker Eduardo was handed a two-match European ban for his theatrical fall against Celtic and Celtic midfielder McGeady was sent off for diving against Hibernian, Terry knows from first-hand experience that many cheats have got away with their acts of deception.

The Chelsea defender has no intention of condoning the kind of clear dive that landed Eduardo in hot water, but he does feel that opposing international teams are much quicker to make sure they win free-kicks and penalties when there is the slightest contact in a challenge.

Terry is concerned that England’s honesty could come back to haunt them in a crucial match like Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Croatia at Wembley.

“Sometimes we are too honest,” Terry said. “Even in the Premier League you see the English lads get a bit of contact but try and stay on their feet and take the chance.

“That’s the way we play. We are a very honest country and it’s a very honest league we play in. Sometimes that goes against us.

“The foreign mentality coming in, any little clip, with the the speed of the game, you can go tumbling over.

“If there is a foul or you are touched when you go through on goal you go down. Then it is for the referee to decide.”

Terry admits there are certain players, both English and from other countries, that he expects to resort to the game’s dark arts whenever he sees their name on the opposition teamsheet.

But he believes cheating could be stamped out if it was made clear that the kind of punishment given to Eduardo by UEFA, European football’s governing body, would be handed out whenever a player was retrospectively judged to have dived.

“Of course you do (know which players dive),” Terry said. “It would be unfair to say it’s just the foreign players but the English mentality and the way we’ve grown up means we’ve never really been into it.

“I think everyone would have a better chance if there were rules that told you how you would be punished for diving.”

England coach Fabio Capello admits that players in his teams have dived in the past, but he is adamant he has always been keen to stamp on any signs of gamesmanship.

“It happened in my team sometimes. But I like the players who fight, I don’t like the divers. I would tell my players that,” Capello said.

“That is my idea but I am not on the pitch. I can’t decide for the players. Everyone has a different culture, mine is to be sporting.”

Terry is hopeful that a strong referee against Croatia will ensure there are no diving controversies. The officals will need to be at their best on Wednesday in what promises to be a clash not for the faint hearted.

Capello’s side still bear the mental and physical scars of recent encounters with Croatia.

Defeat against Slaven Bilic’s at Wembley two years ago denied England a place at Euro 2008, then a stormy encounter in Zagreb last year saw Theo Walcott and Joe Cole singled out for brutal tackles as the Croatians grew frustrated at their 4-1 defeat.

With Croatia battling for a play-off place, Terry knows England will have to fight fire with fire if they are to gain the victory that would book their place at next year’s finals in South Africa.

“The first 10 or 15 minutes are going to be vital,” Terry said. “At Wembley last time they tried to be very aggressive at the start and maybe got away with it.

“We need to be aggressive in the first 15 minutes and match them. When we get the ball down and we start playing we can match a lot of teams in the world, but physically we have to win our battles early on. That is key to set the tone of the game.

“Hopefully we have got a referee on Wednesday who is strong enough to deal with a lot of things.”