Quotes About Sportsmanship

I feel now that a tackle or an interception high up the pitch is as nice a feeling as creating a goal for someone else.

People that know me realise what kind of player I am. I'm a front-foot defender; I like a tackle, but I'm not malicious, and I don't go in to hurt.

I don't know how many times you see 10s tackle each other.

I went for a tackle with Radamel Falcao against Colombia, and he just dropped to the floor. I said to him 'Just get up!'

Would I - or any defender - tell the referee to give a penalty if I made a foul in the box but it was deemed a fair tackle? No chance.

When I played and got abused by another player, called a 'black so and so,' I always said 'that's out of order' but I tried to ignore it. I'd be thinking: 'You're not going to bring me down to that level.' But there were occasions when something was said and the next tackle went in a lot firmer.

If you have ever played the game, you will know there are times when it is impossible to tackle an opponent without both feet leaving the ground, if only for an instant.

You have to respect the bowler, and every batsmen have their way of tackling the spinners.

It's just, some players I don't respect. Just their playing style of basketball. I don't respect it. I feel like it's basically cheating and I don't respect a cheater. If that's your tactic to winning, I don't respect you.

I'm a clean boxer. You don't have to worry about any dirty tactics.

In your journey to the tag of winning-at-all-costs you can still behave, you can still do the right things by not crossing the line. Lot of champions have done it. Look at Rahul Dravid, Steve Waugh.

Take a deep breath. When the game comes, no matter what happens, you can always keep your cool. I'm a bit of a hot head, a bit of a spaz, so it really helps me calm myself down during the game.

A guy who is walking out of his crease purposefully because he wants to take advantage is wrong.

I think permitting the game to become too physical takes away a little bit of the beauty.

Sometimes English football takes pride in having the lowest yellow-card count in Europe, but of course it will have if you can take someone's leg off and still not be booked.

Its super to play with Martina, and she has huge amounts of talent. We have a lot of fun.

I have never considered any player as my competitor; each one of them is good and talented, and my job is to beat them.

I play with Sacha Kljestan, and I talk a lot with him about playing in MLS.

My dad showed me a football and would throw it up and have my dog - a German Shepherd - chase me around when I went after the ball. I caught it because I was scared of that dog. The next year, my dad talked to the commissioner of a local league and convinced him to let me play as a first grader with third graders.

I don't like talking about cheaters.

Everybody talks smack during games.

Everyone talks about VAR, which is great. It will help the referees no end. But if you've got VAR in place and VAR becomes the ref, I'm not sure that's good for the game.

The Italian Fabio Cannavaro, who was with Real Madrid when I played against him several times, was the best player in the world in 2006. He wasn't tall, but very quick and strong. He always knew his opponents well, as if he'd researched them.

I don't know anything that builds the will to win better than competitive sports.