Capello hopes for profesionalism from Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney has assured England manager Fabio Capello that his mind is fully focused on Englands upcoming Euro 2012 qualifying match in Basle on Tuesday night, against Switzerland.
Depsite prior concern the prolific striker was aboard the plane that left for Switzerland with the rest of the England squad.
The Switzerland coach never felt that their was any chance of Rooney not making the trip for such a crucial encounter and Capello confirmed that the player was ready and rearing to go.
He was caught saying:
"I spoke with him, he said he was focused and that he wanted to play against Switzerland," confirmed Capello.
"I am sure tomorrow he will play a really good game, the same level as he was against Bulgaria."
Capello must be starting to get rather tired of dealing with such stories.
Prior to the World Cup, John Terry was the English player who was in the line of fire. The England coach felt that the claims made against the player were far too serious, and the skipper had to lose his captains arm band for his country. As it appears no sanction has been taken against Rooney, there would be claims of bias.
Capello however strongly believes that these two cases are completely different.
"I never suspended Terry," countered the Italian.
"He played all the games. But he was the captain, so we changed it."
Despite that it is easy to feel as though the English players are given more harsh treatment, when compared to the players from the rest of the world. The manager however doesn't feel like that's quite the case.
"It is the world, not only England," he said.
"The same things happen in other countries; French, German, Italian. Sometimes the players ignore the rules of life.
"The players know what they have to do in their private life. But it is their private life."
Terry despite his personal life and matters, was one of Chelsea's best players last season. His performance at Burnley is reported to have been phenomenal and the make or break to Chelsea's season last term. Those performances by the player only seem to back Capello's theory which states that personal matters don't affect players operating at such a professional level.
"It is good for us that he is here," said Capello.
"For one player to stay here at this moment is really important."
"Rooney will play in the same position because he really liked it," said Capello.
"He gets the ball a lot, he can be free to move around the pitch and he can go from the back towards the goal.
"It is a really important position and you can see how enthusiastic he is. After the game on Friday he was really happy."
However his mood quickly took a toll for the worse, twenty four hours later, as the news of what was going on was leaked out.
It was assumed that the fear of something similar happing during the summer was one of the reasons Rooney was misfiring during the World Cup
Not that Capello agrees.
"It was not just Wayne Rooney," he said.
"We arrived in South Africa at the end of the season and all the English players were tired. The level was not the same as it had been before."
Capello and England will be hoping that the golden boy of English football, can manage to overcome his personal issues and not let them affect him on the pitch. In the last match that the player played for the team, he was involved in all the goals the team scored. Which just proves his worth and quality, not having Rooney in the squad could be a major let down to the team and the country.
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