Switzerland 1 - 3 England; Wayne plays away and scores again
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European Championship Qualifying
Switzerland vs England
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Starhub Channel 222: 2:45 am - (Live) (Wed)
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I'm ready! Shamed Wayne Rooney roars in-flight pledge of defiance to England boss Fabio Capello
Focus: Rooney has assured Capello that his private life will not be a distraction on the pitch
Wayne Rooney marched down the aisle on England's flight to Switzerland to assure Fabio Capello he is ready to spearhead the attack in tonight's crunch European Championship qualifier.
Capello was concerned about his best player's state of mind amid the scandal of the front page revelations about his private life.
But Rooney responded by going to the manager and telling him that he would be able to separate his professional responsibilities from his private hell and perform as he did against Bulgaria at Wembley on Friday night.
Capello has declared that Rooney would start against the one team to beat world champions Spain in South Africa in the summer.
'He will play,' said Capello. 'I've spoken to him. Private things. But I monitored him during the training and he was good. He's focused on the game. I think during this period, when he is on the pitch, he forgets any problems he has.'
Capello acknowledged that his players should behave off the field. 'It's important, yes,' he said. 'But I think it's also important to stay with the players and to play. For the players, to play, it's a fantastic moment. You forget everything.
'Look, you have to separate, to divide, at different moments the private life and the job. You have to be strong to divide the two. My job is the second part. The other part is his problem. Rooney played very well on Friday.
'When he had the ball at his feet he was really good. He's so technically strong and, passing the ball, he was excellent.'
Just warming up: Rooney (second left) joined (left-right) Steven Gerrard, Phil Jagielka and Theo Walcott in training ahead of England's clash with Switzerland
Capello said he planned to make just one change to the side that started against Bulgaria, with the injury to Michael Dawson now forcing him to make a choice between Gary Cahill, Matthew Upson and Joleon Lescott for the berth alongside Phil Jagielka in central defence.
Cahill would appear to be favourite, given that he was sent on as Dawson's replacement at Wembley - for what was his first cap - and spent the entire training session on Monday as partner to Jagielka.
It would, however, mean that between Joe Hart, Jagielka and Cahill in that central defensive triangle, there will be just 11 caps.
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A true pro! Swiss roll for Fabio Capello as Wayne Rooney thinks of England at last
Reluctant hero: Wayne Rooney is congratulated by his team-mates
Wayne Rooney responded in typical style to the barrage of revelations about his off-field antics by launching England on the road to victory in Switzerland.
Rooney opened the scoring for Fabio Capello's team as they secured a convincing win against an aggressive Swiss side reduced to 10 men for the last 25 minutes.
Substitutes Adam Johnson and Darren Bent were also on target as England started their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with six points, seven goals and two fine performances.
Capello said: 'Rooney scored the goal and it was important for him and us. He played well. He was always the centre of the play and movement. The pressure was really on him but he played really well.
'I told you he'd been OK in training. I had seen that. The players want to play without other things on their minds. They can focus on the game alone. He did that. He was really happy at the end, as were the other players.
'The result was really important. We played the first half really well, fantastic football, and had a lot of chances to score the second goal. We played a little bit lower in the second half, even though we had chances.'
Leading the way: England captain Steven Gerrard applauded Rooney's desire to play
England captain Steven Gerrard also applauded Rooney, who opted to play for his country despite the pressure on his marriage from allegations that he had a relationship with a prostitute. When Rooney scored his 26th England goal in the 10th minute, it was his first for his country in nearly a year.
Gerrard said: 'All the talk before was about Wayne, so it was nice for him to get the early goal and I'm sure that helped his performance.
'He was terrific, like he was on Friday. I'm sure he'll be great for us throughout the qualification games.
'Our first-half performance was perfect, everything the manager asked of us. We got the game plan spot-on. We got a little bit lazy in the second half and they came into the match, but it was never in doubt. People were talking about how good Switzerland are defensively but we tore them apart.'
The wins against Bulgaria and the Swiss have helped to restore pride but Gerrard added: 'We're nowhere near there yet. It's going to take another two years to prove to our supporters and the rest of the world that England are back.
'Two good results do not make you a good team. What makes you a good team is qualifying easily out of the group and going into a big tournament and proving that you can mix it with the best.'
Theo Walcott was taken to hospital after twisting an ankle but X-rays showed no break and he expects to be back in a fortnight. Jermain Defoe also hobbled off with an ankle injury and will have a scan today.
Adam Johnson came on for Walcott and grabbed his second goal in two games. Sunderland striker Bent, who replaced Defoe and scored his first England goal, said: 'It was great to score my first goal. Hopefully, now I'll get many more.'
James Milner collected a second booking and will miss next month's game at home to Montenegro.
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SWITZERLAND 1-3 ENGLAND
Gerrard allowed to shine with Lamp out.
STAR TURN ... Time for the boss to go for one or the other?TWO wins, six points - the man looks like he's got out of jail.
No, not Fabio Capello. Steven Gerrard.
Well supported last night by Gareth Barry, skipper Gerrard looked as he had against both Hungary and Bulgaria.
Reinvigorated and playing the sort of pivotal role in midfield that has been the hallmark of all his finest hours for Liverpool.
And released from the purgatory of having to play out of position on the left. Relaxed, spreading the ball around with ease and linking well with Wayne Rooney, he had all the appearance of a man released from a long spell behind bars.
He topped his display with a superbly-timed pass for England's killer second from Adam Johnson. So how can boss Capello disrupt the Gerrard-Barry axis if he wants to take the team forward?
In particular, what does the Italian do when Frank Lampard is available for next month's Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro?
Barry may not be ideal but his undemanding presence in midfield does bring the best out of Gerrard. And, as I said after the Reds star's inspired two-goal display against Hungary at Wembley, how can the England manager give the captain's armband back to Rio Ferdinand?
Returning Lampard to the team and restoring Ferdinand to the captaincy would be a step back in time when Capello should be breaking ties to an inglorious past.
So, in the end, two games that could well have decided Capello's future have passed without worry. The hangman's noose can be safely returned to the drawer. And the only problem now for Capello is keeping his hands off the team and making unnecessary changes.
Yes, he lost Theo Walcott with an ankle injury after just nine minutes - yet even this blow may work in Capello's favour. In Walcott's place came sub Johnson, the multi-talented Manchester City winger. A left-footer by choice, he looks at home on either flank and showed again that he can - and should - have a large part to play in England's future.
At 23, he is also the ideal age to mould into this side and the way he took his goal suggested that here is a man to stay.
Running into space and on to Gerrard's pass, he kept his head to round keeper Diego Benaglio and hammer home from a tight angle. While he was doing this, Walcott was in hospital having an X-ray taken of his right ankle.
International futures can be decided in such ways. So here we have another paradox of Capello's tenure. Refusing to play Joe Hart in South Africa, he has now seen him blossom into England's No 1 in a matter of months. Except he has not blossomed at all. He should have been first choice at the World Cup finals.
And now Johnson, who many of us said should have gone to South Africa, has staked his place in the side purely because of injury to the man Capello originally chose to play instead of him.
It's what they call serendipity - arriving at the right choice through accident. This was supposed to be the toughtest match of the qualifying group and England's first real test since their dismal summer safari. But it was yet another fixture historically tilted heavily in England's favour, the Three Lions losing just once in 17 games against the Swiss since 1947.
That came here in Basel when Ron Greenwood offered to resign after his side were beaten 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier in 1981. A similar result here and England fans would have been expecting the same from Capello. But the Swiss played into England's hands, failing to muster a shot on target in the entire first half.
England were left to do much as they pleased and could have led by more than just the one goal they managed from Rooney.
Indeed, had Jermain Defoe showed the same clinical finishing that had seen him score a hat-trick against Bulgaria last Friday, he could well have had another by the interval.
Switzerland, though, upped the ante after the break and had England's defence under real pressure at times.
The back four creaked and you wondered what a better team might have done against them. In fact, you only had to go back to Germany in Bloemfontein.
But Ottmar Hitzfeld's side cut their own throats on 65 minutes, when Stephan Lichtsteiner saw red.
Johnson then gave England a 2-0 lead, the hosts hit back through sub Xherdan Shaqiri's cracker before Darren Bent completed a competent win for an under-pressure manager.
So England are well on their way to Poland and Ukraine, where superior teams will wait with serious questions to ask.
For the moment, Capello has some to ask of himself. The small matter of Lampard and Ferdinand for starters.
