The "big personality" that puts John Terry a cut above his colleagues in the England international squad in the eyes of manager Fabio Capello has never been better demonstrated than during a tortuous week last May. Then the inspirational Chelsea captain recovered superbly from the despair of missing a penalty that would have enabled him to lift the Champions League. Seven days after the agony of that Moscow shootout defeat to arch rivals Manchester United, Terry was back in London to lead his country in an admittedly undemanding friendly against the US.
Lesser men would have hidden from that challenge - effectively an audition for the job of captaining his country permanently, officially awarded to him yesterday - but not Terry, who led as usual by example and even chipped in with a goal in a 2-0 victory. "I think everybody realises it means the world to me to retain the armband," said Terry after learning that Capello had preferred him to Rio Ferdinand for the captain's job. "To get the armband back is a huge achievement for me. To get it ahead of Rio and other players is a great honour."
Terry, 27, knows it was a close call that could have gone against him in view of his less than exemplary behaviour off the football pitch. He is aware that he is now a role model for millions of impressionable youngsters. Terry added: "I had heard whispers that Rio had got it so I was a bit shocked. I would never have given up on trying to win back the captaincy but I'm delighted. My target now is to make sure that we qualify for the World Cup."