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Rooney unperturbed by dad’s arrest

Comment: 0 October 7th, 2011 by: admin

NO need to worry, Wayne Rooney is relaxed and calm.

That was the assurance made by England coach Fabio Capello and captain John Terry as the Three Lions gun for a crucial victory against hosts Montenegro in a Euro 2012 qualifying encounter on Friday.

Rooney’s father and uncle were among nine men arrested Thursday as part of a probe regarding betting irregularities in a Scottish Premier League football game.

“There’s no problem about Wayne tomorrow, he’s relaxed and calm,’’ said Capello, who also confirmed he would start the striker.

Capello promised a win-only outlook against the Montenegrins despite the English needing only one point in Group G to qualify for the finals.

“It would be a big mistake to play for the draw. We need to play to win,’’ he stressed. “I think the players understand this and will play the way we always play when we’re away from England.

Montenegro, on the other hand, are hoping to upset the favoured visitors. They will vault atop the group if they upset England and then defeat Switzerland away on Tuesday.

The Three Lions are under pressure to get past Montenegro. They failed to qualify in the last European Championship four years back after they bowed to Croatia 2-3 at Wembley during their last outing. But Capello’s men are showing great confidence lately, winning all three of their away games thus far.

Terry also guaranteed England fans that Rooney would not be affected by the news involving his 48-year-old father, Wayne Sr., and his 54-year-old uncle, Richie.

“Wayne’s focused on the game tomorrow. We all realise the importance of that,’’ said Terry. “He’ll always be fully focused on the football field so that is what’s important to us.’’

Rooney’s father and uncle were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud along with seven other men. All of them were released in the in the afternoon on police bail until January, pending further investigations.

Terry added they are expecting a tough game in a hostile atmosphere at the Stadion Pod Goricom in Podgorica because the hosts are ready to play their “game of the decade.’’

Defender Marko Cetkovic said Friday’s fixture is the most important in their country’s brief international football history.

Montenegro, with a population of only 625,000,  are now ranked 16^th in the world rankings despite only starting to play football as an independent nation in 2007.

The hosts are also buoyed by the fact that they forced England to a 0-0 standoff at Wembley last year.

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