Would Capello really drop Rooney?

This weekend was not the best to be an English sporting fan, it's fair to say.

The nation's footballers may have secured their place at next year's European Championships on Friday night, but they did so after surrendering a two-goal lead intheir 2-2 draw away to Montenegro.

Little more than 12 hours later, England's rugby players were dumped out of the World Cup in New Zealand by a France team that (unlike Les Rosbifs) woke up to the realisation that they were in the knockout stage in spite of their poor group-stage showing, not because of it.

While most of the fallout as far as the egg-chasers are concerned is focused on the hijinks of Manu Tuilagi, for the Three Lions it is Wayne Rooney's suspension for his red card in Podgorica which continues to make the headlines.

Rooney was sent off for his petulant kick on Miodrag Dzudovic after losing possession with 20 minutes remaining, and will now miss at least the first match of the group stage in Poland and Ukraine next summer.

It was the sort of incident which turns every pundit and fan into an amateur psychologist. Some say that the fact his father had been arrested only the day before as part of an inquiry into an alleged betting scam will have been playing on his mind, although it did not stop him playing well in the first half as England took a 2-0 lead. The ever-popular line that taking away that nasty streak from his game would make him less effective was also trotted out, and continues to be as much of a nonsense now as it ever was.

That ban may be extended to as many as three games, depending on the verdict of UEFA disciplinary committee when it meets this week to discuss that and other incidents arising from this final round of Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Key to the committee's decision will be the report of referee Wolfgang Stark, who gave Rooney his marching orders for the sixth time in the Manchester United forward's career. If you recognise the German official's name then you may be familiar with some of his other work.

In 2010 he was hit with accusations of "pure disrespect" towards John Terry following Chelsea's European defeat by Internazionale, in which the Blues skipper uttered the rather contradictory: "I'm not going to say the word 'conspiracy'. I am not using that term - but I'm so frustrated by what happened."

Stark also courted controversy last season for his handling of the fiery Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Barcelona, which resulted in angry Real fans abusing (vague) look-a-like Andy Townsend in a Madrid restaurant after the game.

Those two examples should be more than enough for anyone to warm to Stark, and he also put himself in every England fan's good books by insisting his report on the Rooney incident would be glowing.

"He accepted it without dissent. Maybe it will help Rooney the way he acted by accepting my decision.

"It was a straight red card. I had no hesitation. You saw what happened and Rooney knew by his reaction. He just walked off. I have no more input into the process. I will submit my report and it is up to UEFA what they will do."

England will hope UEFA are as appreciative of the striker's decision to walk like an honourable batsman before he is given out.

Regardless of how long the eventual ban will be, Fabio Capello is already making other plans. The England boss has confirmed that Rooney will not start in next month's friendly against Spain at Wembley.

"I need to find the solution for the first game, or two games, that Rooney will not play," he said. "And if we find that solution, he needs to work to return to the first 11."

"In my life as a manager I have put on the bench a lot of players. I always decided who was the best player at that moment."

The implication appears to be clear from Capello: if England can find a way of playing well without their star man in their five friendlies before next year's tournament then he may struggle to regain his place.

But does Capello really mean that, or is it just to sort of platitude that a manager is duty-bound to make in such a situation?

After all, he is leaving the job after the tournament come what may, so he will not be squeamish about upsetting anyone.

England have played three games without Rooney since the last World Cup and won none of them. Last November they lost 2-1 at Wembley to France, they relinquished their late on in the 1-1 draw with Ghana at the same ground in March and then had to come from two goals down to draw with Switzerland in June.

In that same period, England have won seven of the nine games they have played with Rooney in the team, with the two draws against Montenegro accounting for the other two matches.

The standard of opposition should be taken into account, but there is no denying that England are not so embarrassed with riches that they can afford to dispense with the services of their only truly top-drawer player.

If Capello wants further proof that he would be best served by abandoning his high-minded principals and just playing is best player as soon as he can, then he need only look at the last European Championship.

At Euro 2008, Russia were without their own star man, Andrei Arshavin, for their first two group games after the midfielder - then playing for Zenit St Petersburg - was sent off in their final qualifying game against Andorra.

Guus Hiddink's side initially struggled in Austria and Switzerland, losing 4-1 to Spain before scoring a narrow 1-0 win over Greece. Arshavin returned from his ban and immediately set to work, scoring one goal and setting up the other in the 2-0 win over Sweden that helped propel them all the way to the semi-finals.

Capello, and most England fans, would probably take a similar course of events next summer if it were offered to them now.