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Rooney to make personal appeal to UEFA

Comment: 0 October 17th, 2011 by: admin

WAYNE Rooney is so affected by the three-match slapped on him by the UEFA so he is making one big push to save his Euro 2012 campaign.

Rooney was left out the Manchester United starting 11 by Sir Alex Ferguson during their Premier League tiff with Liverpool which ended in a 1-1 tie on Saturday because the Red Devils boss said his player was “devastated’’ by the verdict.

The suspension meant Rooney will not be able to see action in the group stage of next summer’s prestigious tournament.

Hoping the UEFA would reconsider, Rooney said he is prepared to fly to Switzerland to make a personal appeal in the hope that his suspension be reduced. The penalty was meted after Rooney kicked Montenegro’s Miodrag Dzudovic during their recent qualifier which resulted in a 2-2 standoff and sent the Three Lions to the finals.

Under the rules of the UEFA, the football governing body in Europe, a player and Football Association representatives can attend any appeal hearing.

Rooney and England coach Fabio Capello are both keen on making the appeal although the FA are still awaiting the written reasons for the three-match ban before deciding whether to contest and whether they will allow the striker to travel to the UEFA headquarters.

Ferguson said Rooney had a bad week and was very disappointed by the UEFA decision.

“He could miss the European Championships because there is no guarantee England are going to qualify from their group,’’ said Ferguson.

Ferguson, like Capello, fears Rooney could “miss the whole thing’’ since England have found it very difficult to advance in major championships.

Capello is hoping Rooney could available for one group match if they could convince UEFA officials that the incident at Podgorica did  not constitute “assault.’’

The FA have three days to decide whether to appeal the case.

Capello had earlier announced that he would leave Rooney out of the team for friendlies in the run-up to Euro 2012 to experiment on plays not involving his best player.

 

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