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Gerrard hails "fantastic" Terry

29/05/2008

Steven Gerrard was full of praise for England captain John Terry after his goalscoring performance against the USA at Wembley.

The Chelsea captain bounced back from the heartache of last week's Champions League final defeat against Manchester United by opening the scoring against the Americans with a superb header.

It was Terry's first time wearing the skipper's armband under new national team coach Fabio Capello.

And Gerrard said it showed the character of the Blues defender to recover from his crucial penalty miss in the Moscow showpiece just seven days before.

"I am so pleased for John Terry. He is a top guy off the pitch and also a great player on it," Gerrard said.

"He is a fantastic footballer. Unfortunately for him, he suffered a big low in his career with what happened in Moscow last week.

"But we always knew he was going to bounce back. That is the type of fantastic character that he is.

"He showed once again that he is a fantastic leader. He has done it so many times."

Terry's first-half goal set England up for a comfortable 2-0 win, with Gerrard himself adding the second from a Gareth Barry slide-rule pass midway through the second half.