England's chances of winning Euro 2012 were boosted by the decision made by Uefa to reduce Wayne Rooney's initial three match ban to two. This will allow him to feature in the final group game against hosts Ukraine.
The debate over whether Wayne Rooney should be included in England's squad for next summer tournament is now surely over after that Uefa confirmed that his three match ban has been reduced to two. Rooney was punished after kicking Miodrag Dzudovic during a 2-2 draw with Montenegro in October.
Since that match Rooney admitted that the kick was 'stupid' but the impression of the FA was that the punishment was a bit 'harsh'. Initially Uefa imposed a three match ban which would have forced Rooney to miss all three group games against France, Sweden and Ukraine. Media and fans start than questioning the wisdom of selecting a player who wouldn't have been eligible to play a single match in the tournament unless England would have qualified for the quarter-finals. England's Manager Fabio Capello tried different solutions after the ban leaving Rooney out of his squad in the friendlies against Spain and Sweden.
Now that the Manchester United player will be available for the third group match against Ukraine changes everything: he will be surely be included in the England's squad however it is unlikely that punters will back him to be top goalscorer and he is currently trading at 23.00. We only suggest a minimum bet if you are lucky enough to receive a Free Bets from bookmakers.
The one match reduction is seen as a very important victory for Rooney and the FA. Bookmakers have also sweeter England overall chances to win the tournament as the price has been reduced from 15.00 to 11.00. The FA's Director of Communications Adrian Bevington was quick to express his satisfaction with this outcome and said that it was a fair hearing and having Rooney against Ukraine is a very positive achievement. Rooney has also agreed to do one-day of community service with a Uefa project.
England Manager Capello joined his player hearing in Nyon where Rooney made the short trip from Basel after the very disappointing Champions League night. It was a similar shocking night for neighbours City as even if they managed to beat Bayern Munich they went out from the competition as Napoli got a crucial victory in Villareal. The Italians didn't managed to score in the first half but things changed in the second 45 minutes and they qualified at the expense of Roberto Mancini's men.Real Madrid and Barcelona are now the favourites to win this year Champions League.
No comments:
Post a Comment