I‘ve watched it many times and don’t see what you are alluding to. You are saying that Sterling dived because he drew contact but others are being hypocritical because he dived.
What I seen was 2 hits on Sterling, the first knocking his right leg and from all angles you can clearly see him still trying to run, not throwing his leg backwards as you’d see in a dive, before then getting hit from the opposite side with enough force to clearly force him down.
Eyes, eh, we’ve all got them and see things differently.
I’m saying that if his life depended on getting to the goal line, the first contact would not have caused him to go to ground. I’m absolutely not saying he dived, because that has a wholly different meaning, and context.
He didn’t leave a trailing leg, or throw out a leg yo initiate contact, either.
But, ignore the first contact altogether and just look at the second challenge, if you like.
Look at the position of #24 the second before he makes contact, and then the second after he makes contact.
THE CONTACT HE INITIATES IS SO FORCEFUL IT TURNS HIS ENTIRE BODY AFTER HE HITS STERLING’S BODY. He tries to hide this body check (no shoulder to shoulder, but stepping across Sterling’s trajectory with his hips) by NOT throwing a leg or boot out, but THE REACTION OF HIS OWN BODY MAKES CLEAR that he has made significant physical contact.
And, let’s be serious, anywhere else on the park, when a player drives between two staggered players and one throws out a leg and the other then lays the body on him, you’re getting a free kick!
Had Sterling thrown out his right leg, I’d have called it as I saw it and said HE INITIATED THE CONTACT and thus no foul. However, it was contact initiated TWICE, by two different, slightly offset, players that creates a foul, and it’s a penalty