Capello Hoping for Injury - Free Rooney

Wednesday, 3rd March 2010 at 12:10pm

With just 10 games to go in the 2009/10 Premier League Season, both Sir Alex Ferguson and England coach Fabio Capello must fear the same thing: a serious injury to Wayne Rooney.

Should the unthinkable happen, and Rooney suffers an injury that will rule him out for an extended period, it will almost certainly out paid to Manchester United's Premier League and Champions League aspirations and do similar damage to England's chances of lifting the World Cup in South Africa in July.

Many observers said United would struggle following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, but Rooney has responded to the absence of the Portuguese superstar in such a way, it could be argued that his star now shines as brightly if not brighter than Madrid's £80 million man.

On Sunday, he came off the bench to replace Michael Owen, a man once believed to be England's great white hope, to score his 28th goal of the season and secured Manchester United the League Cup.

Two more goals will take him to 30 for the season for the first time in his career and Rooney seems to be a cast iron certainty for the end of season player of the year awards.

Wayne Rooney

Come the end of the domestic season, should he be fit, Rooney's attention will turn to leading England to glory in South Africa.

There he will be relied upon to spearhead England's campaign in much the same way he has done United's this season.

Rooney's importance to England's cause has never been in doubt from the moment he rampaged through opposing defences at Euro 2004 at the tender age of 19 before breaking a bone in his foot in England's quarter final match against Portugal, but, these days, the Three Lions need his talent more than ever before.

For a number of years it seemed he could do no wrong, but then his international career stagnated towards the end of Sven Goran Eriksson's reign and during Steve McLaren's ill-fated tenure as they were unable to work out how to get the best out of the United striker.

The arrival of Fabio Capello has given Rooney a new lease of life and he is now playing better than ever before for both club and country.

While the England national team has a number of top class footballers, there is little doubt that an injury to Rooney would bring more heartache for Capello than should that misfortune befall any of his other chosen 23 players.

Without his goal scoring attributes and his ability to bring other players into the game, England will surely struggle to make the impact on the tournament that each and every England fan is desperate to see.

At this stage, an injury to the young man from Croxteth, Liverpool, is Sir Alex Ferguson's, Fabio Capello's, and each and every Manchester United and England's fan's worst nightmare.

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