World Cup

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Attendance: 39,800

World Cup | Group Stage

Jun 14, 2014 at 11pm UK

England
1-2
Italy

Sturridge (37')

FT(HT: 1-1)

Marchisio (35'), Balotelli (50')

Daniel Sturridge would never 'bend rules' as Luis Suarez has

By Joe Fish, Reporter

Published: June 17 2014 | 00:30

Last updated: June 18 2014 | 23:44

England's Daniel Sturridge insists that he would never cheat to try to secure victory as Liverpool teammate Luis Suarez, his opponent on Thursday, has done in the past.

Daniel Sturridge has insisted that he would never go outside the laws of the game in order to guarantee victory, as teammate Luis Suarez has done in the past.

The Liverpool strike partners, who scored 48 goals between them in the Premier League last season, face off on Thursday as England play Uruguay in World Cup Group D.

At the 2012 tournament, Suarez deliberately handled on the goalline to prevent Ghana from equalising in their quarter-final match, with Asamoah Gyan missing the resultant penalty to see Uruguay progress.

Suarez has also been accused of diving to win spot kicks, but Sturridge has vowed that he would never resort to cheating as it is not in his nature, nor the nature of English football.

"I'm going to do anything in my power to win this game, provided it's within the rules of the game," he told reporters. "But I'm not going to dive and I'm not going to handball a goal-bound shot because it's not in my nature.

"We're an honest country and go about our business in an honest way. No disrespect to other countries. But we play the game within the laws. We don't bend the rules. We play by the book.

"There's nothing wrong with that. We've gone a long way doing that, from 1966 when we won the World Cup, playing within the laws. That's how I was brought up. We don't like to cheat to win. We want to play in an honest way."

On Monday, injury doubt Suarez was passed fit for the Sao Paolo clash, in which both sides will be looking to bounce back from defeats in their opening games.