Rooney's Euro Ban

England striker Wayne Rooney will miss the Euro 2012 group stage after being banned for three matches for his sending off against Montenegro.

Uefa's disciplinary panel decided on the punishment for next summer's tournament in Poland and Ukraine at a meeting on Thursday.

Rooney, 25, was sent off for kicking Miodrag Dzudovic in the 2-2 draw in Podgorica last Friday.

It is understood the Football Association will appeal.

Quote :

David Bond, BBC sports editor
"Wayne Rooney is understood to be "shocked" and "disappointed" by Uefa's three match ban for his tackle on Montenegro's Miodrag Dzudovic.

But watching replays of the "assault", as Uefa described it tonight, it's hard to see how their disciplinary panel could have reached any other conclusion.

And so, once again, England's most important and talented player is facing disappointment at a major tournament.

Now Fabio Capello faces a dilemma. With Rooney ruled out of the group stages, should he take him?

There should be little debate. England are good enough to reach the knockout stage without him and Capello knows not selecting him might appear defeatist."

BBC Sport has also learnt that Rooney is "shocked" and "disappointed" at the punishment and that he will do whatever he can to support the FA's appeal, should they choose to make one.

In the Premier League, the punishment for violent conduct is an automatic three-match ban.

But Uefa's policy is to suspend the player for one game, with a panel deciding on a case-by-case basis what, if any, additional punishment there should be.

Instead of issuing a longer ban, Uefa had the option to hand out a warning or a fine.

Officials take into account the referee's report, representations from the player and national body and the player's disciplinary history.

A statement from the Football Association said: "Further to Uefa's decision to impose a three-match suspension on Wayne Rooney, the FA 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."

BBC Sport understands there is a risk that should the FA lose its appeal against Rooney's ban that Uefa could increase the length of the suspension to four games.

Quote :

Manchester United team-mate Michael Owen expressed his surprise with Uefa's decision.
"Disappointing news regarding Rooney. Missing three games on such a big stage seems a bit harsh," he stated on Twitter.

Quote :

Everton midfielder and former team-mate Phil Neville added on Twitter: "Rooney banned for three games what a joke - if it was a Dutch, Spanish, Italian or German player they wouldn't even get one game #fact."

England coach Fabio Capello said he may leave Rooney out of upcoming friendlies to study alternative attacking options with Darren Bent, Jermain Defoe and Danny Welbeck and Bobby Zamora all vying for the lead striker's role.

Quote :

"There's a huge incentive for four or five strikers to stake their claim to get his place - they've got a great carrot dangling between now and the end of the season," former England captain and forward Alan Shearer told BBC Sport.

You simply cannot deliberately kick an opponent and expect to get off with a one-match ban and there is always the possibility you will get three games

"If they do well enough in the friendly games, then who knows, England manager Fabio Capello might decide not to take Rooney.

"But if it were me at this moment, he is our best player and even if the three-game ban still stands, then I would take him."

Quote :

BBC Sport's Garth Crooks said: "We expected one [game ban]. Two would have represented a hammerblow. Three is like a dagger to the heart of the Football Association.

"The message that Uefa are sending out to players is that they aren't going to tolerate any violent behaviour at the European Championships.

"This is a real problem for England. Capello now doesn't know his best side.

"More importantly, is he going to take him to the tournament? It would be a very, very brave man to leave someone like Wayne Rooney out. He's a top class act. The difficulty is, he has a temperament problem."

Quote :

Former England coach Graham Taylor said the severity of the punishment did not shock him.

"You simply cannot deliberately kick an opponent and expect to get off with a one-match ban and there is always the possibility you will get three games," he told BBC Sport.

"This is what has happened. I can't say I'm surprised by the decision."

Quote :

Meanwhile, England Supporters Club spokesperson Mary Perryman said she was disappointed with the "immaturity" Rooney had shown in Montenegro.

"I'm gutted, absolutely gutted," she told BBC Radio 5 live.

"I was there at Euro 2004 when he lit up to competition. He was petulant out in South Africa.

"I was out in Montenegro, and we couldn't believe it. It was immaturity, and this isn't a guy who is 18 or 19 years old anymore."

Rooney was sent off in the World Cup quarter-final against Portugal in 2006 after appearing to stamp on the groin of Ricardo Carvalho and then push former Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.

Referee Wolfgang Stark put in his report that the former Everton man left the pitch in Montenegro without contesting the decision.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15297615.stm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feel free to discuss this discussion, express your joy at it or amongst the cynical of you, rant about this act of retalition from FIFA and a certain Mr Blatter regarding the FA's actions at the FIFA presidency vote.

Personally, I've warmed to the idea that England should use this tournament as a "practice run" of sorts (as the mighty Germans did at some point, according to some journalists who are somehow experts on German youth development) ahead of the 2014 World Cup/2016 Euros and beyond.

The most important question, at the moment, involving Rooney and his involvement with the England team is should we play him in the friendly against Spain? Some argue that we should use a completely different team, even to the one who played last week against Montengro while others suggest we should use our "full strength side" (which I assume includes a mix of the Golden Generation, e.g. Terry, Cole and the youngsters) and see how we fare against a full strength, best team in the world. We're still likely to get hammered, but at the very least, I suppose that will put to bed the claim that we can win Euro 2012 with the current side, without any need for tinkering.

England have their excuse for not winning it already.

deserved it, and hopefully this will dampen down the media circus that will inevitably begin when the domestic season finishes, and a fairly simple solution for him not playing in the groups, play bent/carroll/zamora with gerrard/lamps/cleverly playing just off them, trying to play a 4-4-2 would have been suicide so this solves that problem

I'd still take Rooney to the euro's. He is still probably our best player. I'd use the friendles to experiment with new blood and formations and bring Rooney on as a sub if needed.

Bent and Agbonlahor have been cracking together this season, I would stick them two up top.

Mackem wrote:

I'd still take Rooney to the euro's. He is still probably our best player. I'd use the friendles to experiment with new blood and formations and bring Rooney on as a sub if needed.

In that case, would you play Rooney (starter or sub) in the friendly against Spain? I presume we're not going to face Spain in the group stages due to seeding, but there might be a possibility we face them as early as the quarter finals, if we struggle to get out of the group.
And if we struggle to get out of the group, I assume Capello will choose (or rather the media will call for it) to bring Rooney back into the side. In that case, should we start Rooney against Spain to give us an idea of how we might fare?

If we can't beat Spain, even with our "best player", we can either panic and cancel the flights to Poland/Ukraine or consider leaving Rooney out of the whole tournament and perhaps try not to fit the system around one player.

podegarudo wrote:

deserved it, and hopefully this will dampen down the media circus that will inevitably begin when the domestic season finishes, and a fairly simple solution for him not playing in the groups, play bent/carroll/zamora with gerrard/lamps/cleverly playing just off them, trying to play a 4-4-2 would have been suicide so this solves that problem

The papers will probably turn their focus from Rooney to Jack "Wonderkid" Wilshere.

Well he wont play at the Euros then because I can see England only lasting the 3 group games. They are too slow.

We still need to take Rooney as he is by far and away our best player. In fact I dont think anyone even comes near him as I think both Lampard and Gerrard are finished at top level.

Unfortunately, speaking as English man who wants us to win (not that I think we will) he deserves it. The guy is in his early 20s, he could have gotten away with that when he was at Everton and when he first joined United but not now. Hes been in the game for long enough that he should have matured, either that or he shouldnt have player in the first place.

Like its been stated above, England now have their excuse for not winning but they wouldnt win if Rooney was playing. Germany humbled them in the World Cup and the likes of Spain, Holland, Italy, Portugal and even France are much better teams especially now as they dont have a top class striker.

Rooney's an idiot for doing what he did - he's played in Champions League Finals, World Cups and enough other huge games to know that you just can't boot out at someone and get away with it.

I wouldn't take him to the finals at all. if we can't play him until the quarter finals, assuming we get through then it'd mean someone like Zamora has stepped up, then the chances are Capello would just drop whoever to get Rooney back in. Then there's always that he'd do it again, Ronaldo wound him up at Euro 2004 to get him sent off, and he'd become a target for people trying to provoke him.

I'd keep him as part of the friendly squads, just to keep him as part of the national set-up, but I'd not start him at all, just bring him on as a sub. Ferguson must be delighted that his best player stands a damned good chance of another summer on holiday.

to be a top international player you need the mental side of your game nailed down. Have to say rooney has had his many chances. This is a managers chance to drop a someone without the press and idiots hounding them. It's a free pass to get rid of a bad influence on the team. Another point, people talking about gerrard like it's 2005, move over stevie, you've had your chance as a starter. Bring him on to see out games or when you need a burst of passion to get into a game fine. Cleverley started for the league champions this season, wilshere obviously is already an england starter, sturridge is good enough to play for chelsea, gibbs at arsenal, walker for tottenham, jones and smalling get regular action for utd. No one should be upset that we have the chance to utilise these players. Crack on england

An interesting stat I found on the BBC website:

England with Rooney: without Rooney:

Played 73 29
Won 44 20
Lost 13 5
Drawn 16 4
Goals For 139 64
Goals Against 63 24
Win % 60.3% 69%

We're definitely not a one man team...

Quote :

David Moyes says Wayne Rooney's three-game Euro 2012 ban is a "joke".

The Everton manager believes Uefa wanted to make an example of the England striker but have delivered an "excessive" punishment.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp described the length of the suspension as a "surprise and a massive blow".

Am I missing something here?

He was sent off for violent conduct, which is automatic 3 games unless the red is rescinded. I was surprised it was even up for debate how long he would be banned for.

if it was a friendly he'd be banned for 3 games, in the prem 3 english fa games, in europe 3 uefa games. I don't get where the confusion comes in either, you're banned from the competition you fuck up in. Maybe it.s because people view it as a friendly as it's our right to be in the euro's without playing these awful foreign chaps first

The Euro ban is nothing but typical foreigners hating on the English again

Sexton Hardcastle wrote:

to be a top international player you need the mental side of your game nailed down. Have to say rooney has had his many chances. This is a managers chance to drop a someone without the press and idiots hounding them. It's a free pass to get rid of a bad influence on the team. Another point, people talking about gerrard like it's 2005, move over stevie, you've had your chance as a starter. Bring him on to see out games or when you need a burst of passion to get into a game fine. Cleverley started for the league champions this season, wilshere obviously is already an england starter, sturridge is good enough to play for chelsea, gibbs at arsenal, walker for tottenham, jones and smalling get regular action for utd. No one should be upset that we have the chance to utilise these players. Crack on england

Do you honestly see any of those players that you have mentioned (Sturridge, Gibbs, Cleverly, Wilshere etc) being able to rival the likes of Spains finest, Germanys or even Italys and France's? While they are all good players and are among the best in the Premiership, they are nowhere near as good as the players that other teams have and I can see England really getting embarrassed at the Euros.

Dont get me wrong, Id love to see these players come in, as the England team has been stale and in need of a major overhaul for a long time but I just cant see the likes of the players mentioned above being able to do anything at the top level considering the likes of your Gerrards, Lampards, Terrys and Ferdinands have done jack shit.

better seeing what they can do than shoving out the usual shite that have had their chance.

You say they wouldn't stand a chance? but the only was to find out is to test them. So what if they get their arses handed to them, they will learn from it. I can't see a team containing them being completely embarrassed though by any team, you don't get ridiculas high scoring games often, so in 90 minutes who says they cant beat a spain or germany?

too much is made of who is the best in the world at whatever, england are supposed to be ALOT better than montenegro, correct?

Im not saying dont give them a chance, its just on paper, and before I get the cliche slammed my way of "nothing is won on paper etc", I just dont think they match up to the Spanish, Germans, Italians and French. Lets face it, considering how badly England were beaten by Germany last time out, they got the maximum total points of 30 in their qualifying group and the fact that Spain are just hammering everybody in sight, it looks grim to be an England supporter is what Im saying as I just dont think these players have what it takes to be able to rival these teams.

Do you think that if you could take the eleven you would play with Wilshere etc and play them against the team that went to the World Cup, excluding the players who play in both, (Terry, Cole etc) that the new team would win or rather are better? I dont.

I think alot of the player named, honestly, are just overhyped by the media as are England as Im sure any Scottish person will attest too. Just look at the last Champions League final where (no offence intended to any United fans on here) United were humbled and they were when they last played them in the final a few years ago.

Anything can happen in a tournament as you have said and maybe Im just being a pessimist and just being negative but I just cant see England doing anything with the team they have and even more so without Rooney.

which young united players were humbled by barca though? Park, giggs, rooney, valencia?

I dont understand how barca humping man utd relates in anyway to england

Also I do not listen to the media, I watch football games and make evaluations on what I see, if i listened to the media i'd be in mad love with stevie G and think barcelona are the be all and end all of football

germany and spain have one thing in commen (well one main thing) they are settled TEAMS who grew as one. Germany progressed mainly through the under 21 championship and beyond from there. Spain has a midfield who have basically lived life together for 15 years.

*bonus analysis (they aren't so greedy that as soon as they see a pass come towards them they go for it, a little thing you can notice when watching, no matter how hard a pass and how obvious it is for the man behind an england player will usually go to control it, a spanish one will leave it as logically the pass cannot be for him as his team mate wouldnt pass it so erratically) its the little things that add up lol

and they WILL never match up to the spains and germanys
if they are not given a chance to grow as a team.

Best way to catch up is to get as much experience as soon as possible, no england team will realistically challenge for the euros this time, so it is THE ideal chance to give the young ones a go. out of the back four i'd keep cole for example. then build a new CB pairing and right back and slowly replace cole with gibbs

Im saying that United were humbled by Barca because they are Englands best team and Spains best is obviously Barca. Because Barca have a lot of their players playing in the Spain national squad, logic would point out that Spain will be a better team when facing England as they have a number of United players.

I see your point in that the team should be allowed to growwhich in an ideal world it would happen, but the only way to do that is to have more friendlies, taking players away from their clubs for longer periods which isnt going to happen and well Id imagine most fans wont be happy about that as most football fans I know take club over country unlike in other countries. Most fans I know think of friendlies as pointless excercises and dont even bother watching them.

I do believe though that the media hypes up the English premier league to the point where its believed to be the best in the world when really I think its just the most exciting and fast paced.

I agree with the new defence needed but Id keep Terry in there. Hes still the best English defender going and the best leader, plus his experience (no matter how negative) would be invaluable to the rest of the team.

Intresting read from you two. Both made valid points. Personally i'd start now building for the future with the young blood. Rooney is only 25 (i think) and will be around for another 5 years at least and he is an asset to the team.

The goal-keeper picks itself with Joe Hart. Only worry there is there is no-one to challange him or stnd in due to injury.

In defence you have the likes of Smalling, Jones and Cahill starting to shine at club level along with a few fringe players in Jagielka and Lescott. I'd keep John Terry in for the euro's and i'd play him along side Rio Ferdinand. Ferdinand always plays good in major tournements (when Heskey isn't around). After that i'd play Jones and Smalling CB's. Ashley Cole is our best left back but Kieron Gibbs should be starting more. Micah Richards has improved this season so I can see him challanging for the right back place.

In midfield we have Gerrard and Lampard still kicking around. Jack Wilshere is there too with Scott Parker. I'd depends on the formation you play to decide who to play. Scott Parker is 30 now and won't be around for too long. I'd bring in Jack Rodwell. He looks a solid player and can protect the defence. Adam Johnson down the left and Theo Walcott down the right. Jack Wilshere in the middle. Play Ashley Young in the 'Rooney role' and let him roam around.

Up front I'd play Darren Bent. Ashley Young can support hi. Bent is a goal scorer. We don't need him to do much else. Keep hi on the shoulder of the last man. So the team i'd start with in our first game at the euros would be:

Hart, Richards, Terry, Ferdinand, Cole, Rodwell, Walcott, Wilshere, Johnson, Young and Bent. Then start bringing in the new generation gradually after the euros.

I cant see England challanging to win for until at least 2018 World Cup. By then the team should of been playing together for 4-5years.

For England being no-where near as good as Spain, Germany, Italy etc, I agree but anyone can beat anyone on any given day. I'd imagine Germany got a few beatings along the way while building this team and it probably helped the. Learn from mistakes. Regarding Spain, Switzerland beat Spain in their 1st game, so it is possible.

I'm not saying we are going to become the best team in the world but we can coe close.

goal keepers situation... John ruddy. I know he's not played much yet in the prem but he's on his way. And he's a solid shot stopper, and talks to the defence better than anyone i've seen. Defenders need that constant feed back and he's still young for a goal keeper. As you say too it.s only a back up anyway. Long term injury may be in trouble but to fill in he'd do

Will Capello even consider any of this though? He's gone after the tournament, why would he give a damn about leaving legacies or whatnot?

Perhaps his main aim will just be to win (which we acknowledge England are unlikely to do) and this involves idea of bringing back the likes of Hargreaves (who, even if he does have an amazing season with City, is too injury prone for us to rely on beyond the tournament).

I don't think using the tournament to blood the likes of Rodwell, Kelly etc, are on his mind, unfortunately and I do think tournaments are infinately better to do that than friendlies against even the best sides.

who cares nick powells got his goal today, max clayton's only a few months behind him development wise and got an assist. All is good for englands future