Wayne Rooney ban is a 'huge blow' says Alan Shearer
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Your support makes all the difference.Wayne Rooney's three-match ban that will see the striker miss all of England's Euro 2012 group games has been labelled "a huge blow" to the team by ex-striker Alan Shearer.
England boss Fabio Capello's worst fears were realised last night when UEFA handed Rooney the ban for his red card after kicking Montenegro's Miodrag Dzudovoic last Friday.
The kick was judged "an assault" by UEFA's control and disciplinary panel, who stuck to the letter of the law in handing out the punishment despite a plea for leniency from the Football Association.
Shearer told BBC Radio Five: "It's a huge blow. It's not only a huge blow to the team, to the fans and to football followers but to Wayne himself because he realises he's made a stupid error.
"I still think whoever replaces him in the team, England still should have enough to get through the three games without him."
The ban means Capello now has to judge whether to take Rooney as part of his squad to Poland and Ukraine, and hope that he can make an impact if England make it through to the quarter-finals.
The FA will wait for the full reasons behind the decision before deciding whether to appeal. The ban could even be increased by an appeal panel, but that would be unlikely and it looks odds on that the FA will try to have the suspension reduced.
The Manchester United striker is understood to be extremely disappointed in the outcome but will follow the FA's advice about any appeal.
Phil Neville, Rooney's former team-mate for United and England, labelled the ruling "a joke".
The Everton midfielder said on Twitter: "Rooney banned for 3 games what a joke- if it was a Dutch Spanish Italian german player they wouldn't even get 1 game £fact."
Rooney was shown a straight red by German referee Wolfgang Stark for kicking Dzudovoic - England boss Capello admitted it was a "silly mistake" by the 25-year-old, who immediately put himself in danger of receiving the three-match ban.
UEFA's disciplinary regulations state: "The suspension for three competition matches or for a specified period for assaulting another player or other person present at the match".
The FA have three days to decide whether to appeal, and they said in a statement: "Further to UEFA's decision to impose a three-match suspension on Wayne Rooney following his sending off against Montenegro, the FA await the full reasons from the disciplinary committee, and will give full consideration to the decision internally, before deciding on any response to UEFA or making any further public comment."
PA
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