WE’RE NO CHEATS
Stones hits back at Mourinho and Maradona after England criticism
JOHN STONES insists england are not cheats following criticism of their tactics in tuesday’s win over Colombia.
the centre-half — who branded Colombia the ‘dirtiest’ team he has ever faced — defended england’s approach in the face of comments from Jose Mourinho and Diego Maradona suggesting Gareth Southgate’s side used underhand tactics against the South Americans.
england were awarded a controversial penalty when Carlos Sanchez was adjudged to have fouled Harry Kane, leaving the Colombians furious.
Maradona waded into the debate, branding england’s victory a ‘monumental theft’ with the penalty call because American referee Mark Geiger ‘knows a lot about baseball but has no idea about football’.
Indeed, an online petition ordering the last-16 tie be replayed has been signed by in excess of 200,000 people. there is a similar petition calling for Geiger to be sacked by the MLS.
Mourinho, meanwhile, said he had been ‘surprised
to see central defenders like Harry Maguire, normally he is a very honest guy, diving in the attacking box and asking the referee for VAR’. He added: ‘The negative thing for me was the fact there is exaggeration by the players.’ But Stones is adamant his team are staying within the rules, saying: ‘I say it’s clever, I think it is about having a great footballing brain and knowing when to do that without being called a cheat. ‘I don’t think there is anyone in our team who would do that or want to do that. ‘Being clever and buying a smart foul is something that we’ve got as a team and it can help us through the tournament. ‘We’re definitely a very clever team in respect of knowing when to do certain things in games. The boys high up the pitch know when they are in a situation where they can’t get out and look for a foul. ‘I think that is clever play. I’ve been on the end of clever players getting their body between me and the ball and getting fouls from me. Sometimes you can’t complain.’ Colombia tried to unsettle England through various methods of gamesmanship on Tuesday night. And Stones says some of the South Americans’ antics were the worst he has encountered, which made the victory all the more sweeter for the Manchester City star. ‘They are probably the dirtiest team I’ve ever come up against,’ revealed Stones. ‘I’ve never seen a game like this before and how they behaved — it was just so surprising to come across those things. ‘I think the best thing for us was to beat them at football. That’s the biggest thing that will hurt them is going back on the plane home. We stuck to our game plan, never got into the brawl they wanted. ‘When we won the penalty, they surrounded the referee, pushed the referee, the headbutt that you’ve all seen, scuffing the penalty spot, a lot of off-the-ball things you probably haven’t heard about. ‘I think we showed massive character to keep a cool head and not get sucked into their game. We stuck to our plan, kept playing our own football, for me that’s a great sign for a team to have.’ Southgate defended his squad yesterday when asked about whether his players had dived during the shoot-out victory over Colombia. ‘In terms of our team, maybe we’re getting a bit smarter,’ he said. ‘Maybe we’re playing our game more by the rules the rest of the world are playing.’ Tomorrow’s clash against Sweden is likely to be far less distasteful, though Stones did give the impression yesterday that the English players have been far from impressed about some of the noises emanating from the Scandinavians’ camp about England’s ‘spoilt’ squad.