John Terry has admitted the effects of playing at altitude have surprised him but added that England are slowly regaining the sharpness that will be needed in the World Cup.
England landed in South Africa last week but, despite having completed a training camp in the Austrian alps, the former captain has said that he did not think the altitude would have such an impact on himself and his teammates. "The altitude has been more of surprise to me. Your mouth is really dry," he told the BBC .
"We train at quite a high level anyway, coming here was another 150m higher again and we certainly felt that," he added. "We're looking good. We needed this game to get used to the flight of the ball and the altitude."
England beat Platinum Stars 3-0 in a final warm-up game before Saturday's World Cup opener against the USA but Terry, who started alongside Ledley King, also said that they need to improve on recent performances: "We had one to two weeks off and you lose a bit of sharpness, but that's improving.
The new ball - the Jabulani, made by Adidas – has caused controversy in the build-up to the World Cup and Terry has urged his team-mates to take advantage. "It's important we put in a lot of crosses in the box and get a lot of shots in from outside the box," he said. "It's difficult for the keepers."
The centre-back was pleased with how he performed with King, who is likely to replace the injured Rio Ferdinand for the game against USA. "It was important we got 45 minutes together in a real competitive game with Ledley," said Terry.
"We had a good understanding. We used to play together at [local team] Senrab many years ago. The understanding has always been there and we've worked a few times in training."
© Guardian News and Media 2010
