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England manager Fabio Capello has put extra pressure on
UEFA by revealing he may leave Manchester United striker Wayne
Rooney at home for Euro 2012 if the striker's current three-match
international ban is not reduced.
Having previously suggested he will take Rooney to the
Championship regardless of the ban, the Italian was less convinced
after attending the group stage draw on Friday - suggesting he may
leave Rooney at home if he is not at least available for the last
group stage match against co-hosts Ukraine.
"I need to wait," Capello said. "I need to see how the appeal
goes. The sentence, three games, was too much and I hope the appeal
will help us reduce it. I hope he will be available for game
three."
However, Capello may well simply be trying to exert extra
pressure on UEFA to be lenient in their appeal verdict - with the
possibility of Rooney not being at the tournament a nightmare for
the governing body and its key sponsors from a commercial point of
view.
The FA have already confirmed they are going to every length to
try and ensure Rooney's ban is reduced, with Club England managing
director Adrian Bevington revealing that legal advice has been
sought from many quarters.
"We have spoken at length with our own internal lawyers on this,
and also we have been working with an external legal firm as well,
who have a great deal of expertise in sports law," Bevington said.
"We go there, obviously, with the hope of at least getting some
reduction in the suspension so Wayne can play a more fulsome part
in the tournament, if possible."
There is a precedent for a ban reduction, with Russia's Andrei
Arshavin seeing his suspension reduced to two games prior to Euro
2008.
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