England manager Fabio Capello short of striking options; no Wayne Rooney against France
England manager Fabio Capello is short of attacking options ahead of Wednesday night’s friendly fixture with France at the Wembley Stadium. Regular choices Jermain Defoe, Darren Bent and Bobby Zamora are all absent due to injuries.
Defoe is out with an ankle injury, while the Sunderland FC forward has pulled his hamstring and is unable to play. Bobby Zamora of Fulham is a long-term absentee with a broken leg.
It seems that the only option left for Fabio is to either to play Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor or Newcastle United’s young gun Andrew Carroll. Carroll has consistently put in impressive performances for Newcastle in the English
Premier League and is likely to make his debut for England in the midweek fixture.
Capello was hoping to get Wayne Rooney available for the international clash, but Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has made it clear that he will not allow Rooney to play in the match.
Ferguson has told Capello to forget about the 25-year-old marksman’s services until he makes a full return to fitness for United. But Ferguson, who has scrupulously arranged the English star’s recovery from an ankle injury, does
not want to rush his recuperation.
Fergie, who allowed Wayne to play in England’s international match against Montenegro last month, said, “He can only be available if he’s fit and he’s not fit.”
Rooney has been on a training trip to Nike’s headquarters in Oregon USA and is expected to arrive back to England this weekend. The Red Devils will be hopeful of him making a full recovery ahead of United’s Premier League clash
with Wigan Athletic on 20th November.
Last month, Ferguson convinced Rooney to stay at Old Trafford after the player seemed unsettled at the club.
The United manager first sent the player to Dubai to take a break from the action, and then to the Nike training centre in USA, to ensure that United’s No. 10 returns to the form that saw him score 34 goals last season.
The trip to America was intended to work on Rooney’s conditioning and take him out of the media spotlight. Fergie would hate to see all his efforts go to waste by allowing him to go on national duty, where he would have no control
over the player.
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