Wayne Rooney is focused and ready to play against Switzerland says Fabio Capello
Wayne Rooney has assured England manager Fabio Capello that he is fully focused on England’s upcoming Euro 2012 qualifying match against Switzerland at Basle scheduled for Tuesday night.
Despite initial concerns, this prolific striker was aboard the plane that left for Switzerland with the rest of the England squad. The Swiss coach never felt that there was any chance of Rooney not making the trip for such a crucial encounter while Capello confirmed that the player was ready and rearing to go.
The England manager told reporters that he had spoken with Rooney who had told him that he was focused and wanted to play against Switzerland. "I am sure tomorrow he will play a really good game, the same level as he was against Bulgaria", he said.
Capello must be starting to get rather tired of dealing with such stories. Earlier also in the build-up to the World Cup, John Terry was the man in the firing line, with the England coach saying that the claims were so serious they merited the Chelsea skipper losing the captain's armband for his country.
As it appears that no sanctions have been placed on Rooney, there sure would be claims of biased approach. But, Capello feels that the two cases are different. "I never suspended Terry. He played all the games but he was the captain, so we changed it", countered the Italian.
It’s now a widely held belief that the English players are being treated harsher than the ones from the rest of the world. The manager, however, doesn't agree to it as he added that it is the world, not only England and the same things happen in other countries also such as France, Germany and Italy. Capello further added that sometimes the players ignore the rules of life. They know what they have to do in their private life, but it is their private life only.
Terry, despite his personal issues, was one of Chelsea's best players, last season. His performance at Burnley was phenomenal which only seems to back Capello's theory that personal issues don't affect players operating at such a professional level. "It’s good for us that he is here, for one player to stay here at this moment is really important. Rooney will play in the same position because he really liked it. 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." said the 64-year-old.
However, Rooney’s mood quickly took a toll for the worse, twenty four hours later, as the news of what was going on leaked out. It was assumed that the fear of something similar happening during the summer was one of the reasons why Rooney was misfiring during the World Cup. But here also, Capello doesn’t agree. "It was not just Wayne Rooney. 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." he remarked.
Finally, Capello and England will be hoping that this golden boy of English football would overcome his personal issues and not let them affect him on the pitch. In the last match that the player appeared for his 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 setback for the England team.
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