Fabio Capello is preparing for life without Wayne Rooney after the striker’s dismissal marred England’s successful qualification for Euro 2012.
Rooney was shown a red card for violent conduct after aiming a petulant kick at Montenegro defender Miodrag Dzudovic during England’s 2-2 draw. England will now kick off their campaign in the European championships next summer without him.
Capello said Rooney had been guilty of a ‘silly’ mistake, and revealed that he plans to use next month’s friendly against Spain as an opportunity to plan for his absence.
“We’ll find the solution to play without him,” he said. “We’ll try something the next friendly game that we play. I spoke to him and he admitted that he made a silly mistake.”
France outclass Albania
Meanwhile, France coach Laurent Blanc was happy with his team’s 3-0 drubbing of Albania.
“I’m satisfied,” he said. “We wanted to win this match and it’s always satisfying to win.”
Goals from Florent Malouda and Loic Remy gave the hosts a 2-0 half-time lead, before Anthony Reveillere put the seal on a comfortable win. Bosnia-Herzegovina’s 5-0 thrashing of Luxembourg prevented France from qualifying automatically, but they are now assured of at least a play-off place.
Portugal crushed Iceland 5-3 in Porto with Manchester United’s Nani hitting a brace.
World champions Spain defeated the Czech Republic 2-0 in Prague with first-half goals from Juan Mata and Xabi Alonso to stay top of their group. Germany earned their ninth consecutive win as Mario Gomez, Thomas Mueller and Bastian Schweinsteiger all netted in the 3-1 win over Turkey.
The Netherlands saw off Moldova 1-0 thanks to a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 39th-minute goal to maintain their perfect record in the qualifiers.
Argentina beat Chile in WC qualifier
Meanwhile, Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi scored his 18th goal for Argentina in his 63rd appearance as he enjoyed a commanding debut as captain with a 4-1 win over Chile in the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. Gonzalo Higuain recorded a superb hat-trick in the game and was happy at the dominant show.
“It was important to get off on the right foot,” said Higuain. “I liked a lot of what we did tonight.”
Copa America winners Uruguay also got their qualifying campaign off to the perfect start as they beat continental outsiders Bolivia 4-2. The combination of an early kick-off and miserable weather meant there was a sparse crowd, but Oscar Tabarez’s side did not disappoint the fans who did turn out. “I believe we were superior to our rivals in almost all areas and we created many chances,” said Tabarez. England manager Fabio Capello
“Rooney made a silly mistake, the type I’ve seen important players make before. Right then, you can’t understand why it happened.”
Germany manager Joachim Loew
“We played a good opponent in a difficult atmosphere. To win in front of 50,000 Turks against a motivated team is a good result.”
Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain
“It was important to get off on the right foot and we did just that. I liked a lot of what we did tonight. Now we have to keep this up.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2011.
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