Three-match ban Rooney to miss all group games

FABIO CAPELLO’S worst fears were realised last night when UEFA handed Wayne Rooney a three-match ban that will see him miss all of England’s Euro 2012 group games.

Rooney’s kick at Montenegro’s Miodrag Dzudovoic last Friday was judged “an assault” by UEFA’s control and disciplinary panel, who stuck to the letter of the law in handing out the punishment despite a plea for leniency from the FA.

It means Capello now has to judge whether to take Rooney as part of his squad to Poland and Ukraine, and hope that he can make an impact if England make it through to the quarter-finals.

The FA will wait for the full reasons behind the decision before deciding whether to appeal.

The Manchester United striker is understood to be extremely disappointed but will follow the FA’s advice about any appeal.

Former England striker Alan Shearer described the ban as “a huge blow” to England’s chances in the European Championships, and called the kick “a silly error”.

Shearer told BBC Radio: “It’s a huge blow.

“It’s not only a huge blow to the team, to the fans and to football followers but to Wayne himself because he realises he’s made a stupid error.

“I still think whoever replaces him in the team, England still should have enough to get through the three games without him.”

Phil Neville, Rooney’s former team-mate for United and England, labelled the ruling “a joke”.

The Everton midfielder said on Twitter: “Rooney banned for 3 games what a joke — if it was a Dutch Spanish Italian german player they wouldn’t even get 1 game.”

Rooney was shown a straight red by German referee Wolfgang Stark for kicking Dzudovoic.

UEFA’s regulations state that a player will receive a “suspension for three competition matches or for a specified period for assaulting another player or other person present at the match”.

A UEFA statement said: “Today’s decision was taken in relation to the red card shown to Rooney for assault after 74 minutes of England’s final Group G game, the 2-2 draw with Montenegro in Podgorica.

“The striker will now be suspended from playing in his country’s next three UEFA national competition matches for which he would be eligible.”