Wayne Rooney ruled out with ankle injury
Gary Cahill to captain England on Friday; Harry Kane set to start
Sir Bobby Charlton to present the England captain with a commemorative golden boot
England and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney will be honoured for reaching a goalscoring landmark for his national team at Wembley Stadium on Friday but he will miss his first England games for over two years due to injury.
Rooney has not trained fully this week after sustaining an ankle injury during United’s 3-0 defeat at Arsenal last Sunday and since England have already won Group E with a perfect win record so far he will not be risked against Estonia and Lithuania.
Roy Hodgson admitted that Manchester United’s tough fixture list following the international break was a factor in the decision to leave his captain out.
He said: “[The ankle] is settling down very well and we certainly don’t want to risk him for tomorrow because he has lots of important Manchester United games ahead
“I would be devastated if we pushed him out there and something happened to increase the problem he has with his ankle.
“So we decided it is better that he doesn’t play in this game.
“I am sure he is looking forward to tomorrow, when Sir Bobby Charlton will come out and present him with his golden boot.”
PHOTO: @WayneRooney's golden boot #Rooney50 #ENGvEST http://t.co/i1TSei0tjI pic.twitter.com/2dDlVWKPgV
— England (@England) October 8, 2015
England and United legend Charlton, whose 47-year old England goalscoring record was finally broken by Rooney when he scored his 50th England goal against Switzerland last month, will present a commemorative golden boot to Rooney in the build-up to kick off.
Chelsea defender Gary Cahill will captain the side in Rooney’s absence and although England manager Roy Hodgson isn’t expected to experiment with the side on the night, he could ring the changes for England’s final group game at Lithuania on Monday night.
It was mixed news on the injury front with Jonjo Shelvey returning to training after missing out earlier in the week although Danny Ings and United midfielder Michael Carrick did not train.
Kyle Walker and Andros Townsend have been called up as cover with their Spurs team mate Harry Kane set to start on Friday in place of Rooney.