FA considers appeal as Rooney gets hit with three-game ban

Rooney’s kick at Montenegro’s Miodrag Dzudovoic last Friday 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.

It 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.

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.

A UEFA statement said: “Today’s decision was taken in relation to the red card shown to Rooney for assault after 74 minutes of England’s final Group G game, the 2-2 draw with Montenegro in Podgorica.

“The striker will now be suspended from playing in his country’s next three UEFA national competition matches for which he would be eligible.”

The FA have three days to decide whether to appeal.

Last night, in a statement, they said: “Further to UEFA’s decision to impose a three-match suspension on Wayne Rooney following his sending-off against Montenegro, the FA will await the full reasons from the disciplinary committee.

“We will give full consideration to the decision internally, before deciding on any response to UEFA or making any further public comment.”