Rooney to captain England

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will captain England against San Marino in tomorrow night’s World Cup qualifier at Wembley.

The 26-year-old has inherited the armband due to regular captain Steven Gerrard’s suspension following his sending-off in the last qualifier against Ukraine and because of a knee injury suffered by official vice-captain Frank Lampard.

After that it was seen as a straight fight between Rooney and Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart for the honour, and the Football Association has now confirmed Rooney is the man.

He has captained England just once before, in a friendly against Brazil in Doha in 2009.