Moment of World Cup truth for Rooney, Ballack calls for realism
England striker Wayne Rooney has had a scan on his injured right foot to determine whether he plays any role in the World Cup, while Germany captain Michael Ballack has called for realism from home fans.
Weeks of waiting for an expectant English public will come to an end when Rooney, the 20-year-old star of his country’s team, later on Wednesday gets the results of the scan in England which will show whether the metatarsal he broke in April has healed.
A decision must be made because the Friday deadline for replacing him is fast approaching.
Optimism has been raised by Rooney’s vigorous workouts at the England camp in Baden-Baden, but the results of the scan will be scrutinised by his club Manchester United and a host of doctors before a decision is made.
“I think he looks very good – but let the surgeons and the specialists have their say,” England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said on Tuesday.
Three days before their opening Group B match against Paraguay, England suffered another injury concern when midfielder Steven Gerrard sat out training on Wednesday.
“He has a stiff back, but it shouldn’t be a problem,” said Eriksson.
The focus on host nation Germany was intensifying ahead of the tournament-opening match against Costa Rica in Munich on Friday.
Ballack warned the German public that his team may be too young and inexperienced to land their fourth World Cup despite the advantage of home support.
“We have players who don’t play a lot for their clubs, or in some cases haven’t played at all,” Ballack said in an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
“We should not forget that we do not have a team like at the 1990 World Cup or even at Euro 1996.
“Those sides had a lot more established players with international experience.”
Ballack himself has sat out training for two days with a calf problem, but insists he will be fit to lead out his country on Friday.
Costa Rica said they did not intend to merely make up the numbers.
“Perhaps the German fans think it is a foregone conclusion but I think Germany will respect us,” said their coach Alex Guimares.
Poland play Ecuador in Gelsenkirchen in the other Group A game on Friday.
Meanwhile, top officials from more than 200 national federations began meeting in Munich for the two-day FIFA Congress.
They will be asked to approve a proposal to set up a new ethics committee to tackle issues such as match-fixing and rubber-stamp a long-awaited agreement to adopt the code set down by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has stressed however that football will be allowed to manage each positive drugs test on a case-by-case basis, avoiding the automatic two-year ban applied to other sports.
Police meanwhile threw up a security operation to check passports and World Cup tickets at English airports Wednesday in a bid to stop hooligans from travelling to Germany and causing mayhem during the tournament.
The nation whose brawling fans scarred the last World Cup in Europe, in France in 1998, and the Euro 2000 tournament in Belgium has banned 3,500 known hooligans from travelling, but up to 200 have failed to report to police stations.
But Commander Bob Broadhurst, leading the London police operation against World Cup-related violence, admitted that some troublemakers would make it to Germany.
Source:Soccer News
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