The nightmare
deepens. Rooney
has been banned for the group stage of Euro 2012 and England's
manager, Fabio Capello, faces the biggest decision of his tenure over whether
to select somebody who could prove only a tourist at the tournament.
Rooney was
said to be "shocked and disappointed" at the three-game ban. Capello
himself was understood to be "stunned" when the news from Nyon was
broken to him, a reflection on his conviction that Rooney would receive only 90
minutes in purdah and how grievously he felt the lengthened loss of such a
talent. Yet this largely unlovable Italian is not paid £6 million a year to clamber
on to the nearest window-ledge at the first hint of adversity.
So silence
the violins; it is time to be strong and be bold. Capello cannot look back in
anger over the red mist that engulfed Rooney in Podgorica or the unyielding
stance of Uefa's disciplinary committee, who decreed the striker's kick at
Montenegro's Mirodrag Dzudovic to be "assault". Capello must take a
cold-eyed appraisal of the situation and do some creative accounting to squeeze
Rooney into his 23.
Along with
the stipulated three keepers, most managers work on the basis of two players
for each outfield position. Capello has centre-halves such as Phil Jones and
Chris Smalling who can cover at right-back. Space can be engineered for Rooney
to travel with four other strikers.
Darren Bent
becomes more important to England by the day now and definitely goes. Danny
Welbeck, highly regarded by Capello, is likely to feature in the Wembley
auditions against Spain on Nov 12, then Sweden on Nov 15 and probably Holland
in February. That leaves Jermain Defoe, Daniel Sturridge, Andy Carroll and
Bobby Zamora fighting for two places, lending an additional sub-plot to the
Premier League drama.
In May, when
Capello names his 23, controversy will inevitably ensue if a fit, in-form,
unbanned striker is left behind and Rooney walks self-consciously up the steps
of the plane. But if he elects to leave his best player behind, Capello may as
well leave the team bus in short stay at Luton Airport. It would be tantamount
to taking down the St George's and running up the white flag. Whatever the
weight of evidence suggesting that England will struggle anyway at the Euros,
Capello must still believe in life after the group stages.
One
anti-Rooney argument in circulation, one expressed loudly in many quarters, is
that the Merseysider's brooding presence around the camp will be a distraction
for England, a frustration for the other 22 when every press conference begins
"how's Wayne?" Yet Rooney is a popular figure in the dressing room
and there will be a collective anger within the squad at the way he has been
treated.
The fevered
debate over "should he stay or should he go" will be rendered largely
irrelevant should the ban be reduced to two games. The Football Association is
strongly minded to appeal. In a statement, the FA announced that it awaits
"the full reasons from the disciplinary committee, and will give full
consideration to the decision internally, before deciding on any response to
Uefa or making any further public comment". On receipt of Uefa's "reasons''
today, the FA has three working days in which to appeal.
Unfortunately
for Rooney and England, the player has previous international misdemeanours,
having been dismissed at the 2006 World Cup. The oft-stated comparison with
Andrei Arshavin's red card for Russia against Andorra, bringing a two-game ban
for Euro 2008, is slightly false. Arshavin's offence was less aggressive and
some provocation had occurred.
So it is far
from guaranteed that Rooney's sentence will be reduced. The FA might also need to
justify to Uefa why it banned Rooney for two games for only swearing and now
wants similar sanction for a more violent act.
It is manic
moments like Rooney's in Montenegro that shred the relevance of the fashionable
"Money-ball" principles. Football cannot be reduced to numbers, to
player analysis by statistics. Players are creatures of flesh and hot blood,
capable of the unpredictable and the inexplicable.
Uefa's ban
will stir only a sense of injustice in Rooney when he needs to wise up, fully
appreciating that culpability lies only with him. Yet his conduct has largely
improved over recent years, barring the odd expletive and stray, unpunished
elbow. Rooney will have plenty of time in Poland and Ukraine to reflect on the
error of his ways. But he must be taken to the Euros.
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