 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 to be match fit but both played three days later in Chelsea's 2-0 win at Derby.
"I'm talking about very important defenders," Petit told BBC Sport.
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"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, while Cole was on the bench against the Croatians 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.
| I think people are thinking only of themselves, not for football and not for the fans |
"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."