Crying foul: ban on Rooney

London: So the man who kicked out in anger as England reached Poland and Ukraine may not kick a ball in anger out there.

The nightmare deepens. Wayne Rooney has been banned for the group stage of Euro 2012 and England's manager, Fabio Capello, faces the biggest decision of his tenure over whether to select somebody who could prove only a tourist at the tournament.

Rooney was said to be "shocked and disappointed" at the three-game ban. Capello himself was understood to be "stunned" when the news from Nyon was broken to him, a reflection on his conviction that Rooney would receive only 90 minutes of seclusion and how grievously he felt the lengthened loss of such a talent.

Yet this largely unlovable Italian is not paid £6 million (Dh34.66 million) a year to clamber on to the nearest window-ledge at the first hint of adversity. So silence the violins; it is time to be strong and be bold.

Capello cannot look back in anger over the red mist that engulfed Rooney in Podgorica or the unyielding stance of Uefa's disciplinary committee, who decreed the striker's kick at Montenegro's Mirodrag Dzudovic to be "assault".

Capello must take a cold-eyed appraisal of the situation and do some creative accounting to squeeze Rooney into his 23. Along with the stipulated three keepers, most managers work on the basis of two players for each outfield position.

Capello has centre-halves such as Phil Jones and Chris Smalling who can cover at right-back.

Space can be engineered for Rooney to travel with four other strikers. Darren

Bent becomes more important to England by the day now and definitely goes. Danny Welbeck, highly regarded by Capello, is likely to feature in the Wembley auditions against Spain on November 12, then Sweden on November 15 and probably Holland in February.

Premier League sub-plot

That leaves Jermain Defoe, Daniel Sturridge, Andy Carroll and Bobby Zamora fighting for two places, lending an additional sub-plot to the Premier League drama.

In May, when Capello names his 23, controversy will inevitably ensue if a fit, in-form, unbanned striker is left behind and Rooney walks self-consciously up the steps of the plane. But if he elects to leave his best player behind, Capello may as well leave the team bus in short stay at Luton Airport.

It would be tantamount to taking down the St George's and running up the white flag. Whatever the weight of evidence suggesting that England will struggle anyway at the Euros, Capello must still believe in life after the group stages.

One anti-Rooney argument in circulation, one expressed loudly in many quarters, is that the Merseysider's brooding presence around the camp will be a distraction for England, a frustration for the other 22 when every press conference begins "how's Wayne?"

Yet Rooney is a popular figure in the dressing room and there will be a collective anger within the squad at the way he has been treated.

The fevered debate over "should he stay or should he go" will be rendered largely irrelevant should the ban be reduced to two games. The Football Association is strongly minded to appeal.

In a statement, the FA announced that it 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".

On receipt of Uefa's "reasons'' yesterday, the FA has three working days in which to appeal. Unfortunately for Rooney and England, the player has previous international misdemeanours, having been dismissed at the 2006 World Cup.

The FA might need to justify to Uefa why it banned Rooney for two games for only swearing and now wants similar sanction for a more violent act.

It is manic moments like Rooney's in Montenegro that shred the relevance of the fashionable ‘Money-ball' principles. Football cannot be reduced to numbers, to player analysis by statistics.

Players are creatures of flesh and hot blood, capable of the unpredictable and inexplicable. Rooney will have plenty of time in Poland and Ukraine to reflect on the error of his ways. But he must be taken to the Euros.

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2011