John Terry’s retirement from international soccer bears a striking resemblance to Lance Armstrong waving the white flag in his defense of doping allegations. Unfortunately for Terry, his exploits on the field for England weren’t nearly as transcendent as Armstrong’s on the bike.
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Instead, the 31-year-old’s announcement that he was quitting England because it was “untenable” — on the night before the Football Association began a hearing into charges that during a game with Chelsea he racially abused Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand — will fit neatly alongside a career full of transgressions. The list starts with allegations of an affair with the partner of an England teammate, which cost him his captaincy once. The latest incident made him lose it again.
Unlike Armstrong, Terry hasn’t been banned for life from playing for England. Of course, a lengthy ban could be in store, and that’s why Terry made his move first. But he alone is responsible for the conditions that have prompted him to end his international career.
– Craig Stouffer
