By Andrew Warshaw
December 8 – Wayne Rooney’s (pictured left) chances of playing a major part in England’s Euro 2012 campaign received a major boost today when a UEFA appeals panel reduced his three-match ban.
Rooney was initially barred for three games after his red card against Montenegro in October but UEFA agreed to suspend the third match for four years – unless he is sent off in another competitive European international.
Rooney and England manager Fabio Capello (pictured second from left) both attended the hearing at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, along with a team of four lawyers to support Rooney’s appeal.
Rooney himself had admitted it was “stupid” to have kicked Miodrag Džudović, and the Montenegro defender sent a statement on the Manchester United striker’s behalf.
The new ban means Rooney misses the Group D opener against France on June 11 in Donetsk and also the second game against Sweden in Kiev on June 15, but can now face host nation Ukraine on June 19 in Donetsk.
Adrian Bevington, the English Football Association’s director of communications, told reporters after the hearing: “We arrived with the possibility of Wayne Rooney missing the entire group phase so to have him available for the final group game against Ukraine is a positive result for us and Wayne Rooney as well.”
The result of the 90-minute hearing – which now means Rooney almost certainly being picked in England’s 2012 squad for Poland and Ukraine – was a welcome piece of news for the striker who will also spend a day supporting a UEFA community project as part of the revised sentence.
He had stayed in Switzerland overnight following his club’s devastating defeat to Basel, which knocked United out of the Champions League.
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