Rooney ready to captain England

With usual Captain John Terry set to miss today’s friendly with Brazil with an ankle injury, Wayne Rooney will captain the England team for the first time.

Mr. Penalty twisted his ankle in training yesterday blocking a shot from Jemaine Jenas and will not play “unless he is 100% fit”. This will allow Rooney to take the first step towards becoming the long term England captain in the future.

Fabio Capello has likened Rooney to Pele, Beckenbauer Platini and Maradona by insisting he will shine with the captain’s armband.

“He is ready to be a captain,” said Capello. “When you choose who is to be captain you look at who is a leader in the dressing room or who is a leader on the pitch. For me that’s really important. Rooney is always a leader on the pitch. In the dressing room he’s still young. Less there. But he can be. The captain is John Terry. The vice-captain is Rio [Ferdinand]. They are good in the dressing room and on the pitch but now we need one leader on the pitch. That’s why I will choose Rooney if Terry does not play.

“Why not? I remember the best players in the world – Pelé, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Platini – were captains, no? They scored goals, too. So why not? You have to be a leader on the pitch and all the best players were captains. They were also captains of the national teams. Maradona is another example. Rooney was not the only one who was not happy but he will be focused for this game because he will be the captain of the national team.”

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