THE ENGLISH Football Association is to appeal against the three-match ban that would see Wayne Rooney miss the group phase at Euro 2012. The ruling body had been wary of his punishment being extended, but has been reassured that this will not happen. Once Uefa acknowledges receipt of the fax lodging the appeal, a decision is expected within the following six days.
While the FA believes it is worth pursuing, there is a consciousness at Uefa of the unpleasant nature of the offence by Rooney during last month’s qualifier in Montenegro when he let his frustration over bad control lead him to kick Miodrag Dzudovic. The Montenegro defender has since spoken in support of Rooney.
In all of this, however, it tends to be overlooked that this was not a first offence by the Manchester United attacker in the group. He had not even been aware that he would miss the qualifier with Switzerland in June of this year after collecting the second yellow card of the qualifying campaign against Wales in March.
The conduct by Rooney on the international scene will be of concern to Fabio Capello since the player’s behaviour has been markedly different of late with United. He has been shown only a single yellow card for his club this season.
It is not known if Rooney will travel to make a personal appeal to Uefa over the ban. England duty has been known to inflame and there was, of course, a red card for the stamp on Portugal’s Ricardo Carvalho in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup. He is more settled now, particularly with his club. Nonetheless, he continues to be a cause of anxiety to his international manager.
In its way the petulance was even more worrying in the aggression displayed against Dzudovic in Podgorica. Nonetheless, the patience shown to Rooney by Capello is unlikely to disappear.
There are too few performers who can come close to equalling the impact of Rooney when he is focused on the task.
John Terry is another figure in whom Capello has invested faith. The manager, however, is far too sensible to involve himself in the furore over the latest difficulty for Terry. There have been allegations that Terry directed a racist remark at the Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, although the England captain denies making the comment. Capello has no intention of involving himself in the matter and the FA will be left to reach a verdict on the issue.
Underlying such issues is the fact that, regardless of any opinions held by Capello, his need of Terry is great when the future of Rio Ferdinand is in question now that he has trouble reaching and sustaining fitness.
QPR owner Tony Fernandes has backed Terry to retain the England captaincy.“I think innocent until proven guilty,” Fernandes told BBC Sport.
“There’s been no hard evidence either way of John’s alleged statements.
“If he’s the right man for the job then he should be selected as captain.”
Fernandes insists that even if Terry is found to have made the comment, it does not necessarily identify him as a racist.
“Lots of things can be said in the spur of the moment which don’t make you really believe what you’ve said,” said Fernandes.
“I don’t think you can write someone off as a racist because of one statement.”
GuardianService
