Captain's Armband makes Terry Bullet Proof

It has been a truly terrible week for England Captain John Terry, not that anyone would know. The footballing world seems to overlook the misdemeanors of England's Captain, and even when he has done wrong in getting sent off against Manchester City this weekend, the FA look after him and rescind his ban.

Let's start at the beginning, with England's astonishing win in Zagreb last Wednesday night. I say astonishing, on the whole the performance was average. Until Croatia were reduced to 10 men, England had merely put in a professional performance, keeping the game tight, and capitalising on any errors in the Croatian defence. Credit where credit is due, once the game was open, Rooney and Walcott exploited the space well to complete the job, but the red card helped England shine. However, the goal conceded was a massive disappointment, not just to the scoreline, but the manner in which it was lost.

Of course, a free-kick should have been awarded to England for a high foot offence, however what followed was an embarrassment to English football. John Terry, annoyed the free-kick was not awarded, feigned a head injury and stayed down. I was outraged. Firstly, Terry should be trying his hardest to get back and stop the Croatians, secondly, he SHOULD NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE feign a head injury to stop play. After the goal was scored, Terry continued to remonstrate with the referee, and left the pitch for attention, attention to an injury from a football boot that didn't make contact with his head. Unsurprisingly this event went unmentioned in the press.

Three days later Terry travelled to Middle Eastlands (credit The Guardian) with Chelsea to face Manchester City. Here, Terry continued his shameful week by getting sent off for a professional foul when 3-1 in front. My first reaction to the incident was to question why Terry felt the need to stop the player illegally when his side were two goals to the good. It was an unnecessary risk. Terry had decided that late in the game, it was worth getting the booking and fouling Jo than risking letting him go on to score. This is deemed a professional foul, and Halsey showed Terry a red card, much to his bemusement.

If Halsey had shown a yellow card, no-one would have questioned it. However Halsey's decision to show a red card resulted in the usual mass protest from the Chelsea players, and a kick in the teeth to the Respect Campaign. The professional foul does not rely on a player being the last man, but on preventing a goalscoring opportunity. There is NO DOUBT that Terry deliberately pulled Jo down to prevent a goalscoring opportunity and thus Halsey was correct to issue a red card. Chelsea have argued that Ricardo Carvalho was covering to prevent Jo from scoring, but there was also a second Manchester City player, and if Chelsea had so much faith in Carvalho stopping two Man City players, why did Mr. Chelsea bring Jo down?

Match of the Day put forward the argument that as Nemandja Vidic wasn't sent off for his professional foul on Robbie Keane earlier in the day, then Terry should not have been sent off either. This is so wrong it's unbelievable. Both players should have received straight red cards. Two wrongs do not make a right.