Rooney - 2 Match Ban - England

[Red Devil]

England striker Wayne Rooney has been handed a two-match ban by Fifa following his sending off in the World Cup quarter final against Portugal, meaning he will miss the European Championship qualifiers against Andorra and Macedonia. The Manchester United star was shown the red card by referee Horacio Elizondo following an apparent stamp on Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho before The Three Lions were dumped out of the tournament on penalties.

Rooney pleaded his innocence following the controversial scenes in Gelsenkirchen and was backed by The Football Association against a charge of violent conduct. England governing body pleaded with Fifa's disciplinary commission to show lenience, and the striker has now been dealt a two game suspension along with a fine to the value of 5,000 Swiss Francs (£2,200) after being found guilty.

As a result incoming England boss Steve McClaren will be without the services of the star for the European Championship qualifiers against Andorra at Old Trafford on September 2 and away in Macedonia on September 6.

The FA have accepted the verdict from Fifa, with director of communications Adrian Bevington voicing the governing body's happiness at the way the case has been handled.

"We have just received this decision from Fifa and we believe the case has been dealt with fairly and we accept the decision," said Bevington.
After being found guilty of violent conduct Rooney could have suffered a more substantial punishment, but he will now aim to make his return to competitive action in the home game against Macedonia on October 7.

Am I the only one who think this is unfair? They are saying he was guilty and accept the punishment! I still say he didn't stamp on anyone. The player made a remarkable recovery.

[ruud4ever]

I don't think it's fair either. I don't think the 'stamp' was deliberate at all. From what I could see, Rooney was simply trying to keep his balance and so his foot would have landed there whether Ricardo Carvalho was behind him or not.

[MUFC]

Not fair, and really uncalled for. FIFA is really a pile of ****. It was clear from the footage that it was Rooney who had been fouled first, and the stamp was just accidental.

[ruud4ever]

I suppose I wouldn't be the first to suggest that if Rooney played for any other club, this action wouldn't have been taken :(

[Red Devil]

An Argentine referee didn't help either.

[manutdc]

Well... can't complain since they were suggesting a ban of up to 5 games at one point. Still, it's unfair considering Rooney himself was fouled at least twice in that same sequence.

[Schmeichel#1]

I'd agree that the Argentine ref, would be pretty sharpish in getting out a red card for Rooney..

I thought it was quite odd, actually for FIFA to allow an Argentine ref to take charge of the game??...a bit of history between the two countries....

[manutdc]

Why not? The ref's are supposed to be fair and unbiased. It was odd when I first saw it, but then I thought about it again and I don't think it is. Now, if it was an English or Portuguese ref, then it'd be different.

[Schmeichel#1]

True, can't argue with that!

[Red Devil]

Two Euro teams, should have been a Euro referee.

[Schmeichel#1]

Absolutely..a European ref would have been better.

[SalfordRed]

That Rooney was fouled doesn't help his case; in fact it worsens it. Had Rooney not been fouled it would have looked an innocuous incident. It was the suspicion of retaliation following loss of temper that got him in trouble in the first place.

For the record I still can’t make my mind up if it was a stamp or an attempt to retain balance. I change my mind depending on the angle, with one angle in particular making it look really intentional. As far as the ban is concerned it is a shame it wasn’t for longer. In an ideal world he would have got that five game ban keeping him away from England for the rest of the year. I’m just hoping he gets the boo boys on his back for the offence and retires from international football in disgust... well, I can dream :)

[manutdc]

Everytime I look at it I see it as him trying to keep balance - where else would he have put his foot down, without having to contort his body in odd ways? It was just the natural thing to do in my eyes.

Also, I think he keeps his eyes on the ball...though maybe different angles would change my mind.

[Red Devil]

All I see is a player trying to keep balance, watching the ball and getting tackled.

[SalfordRed]

Bar that one angle (by-the-by another illustration of why I’m so anti video replay technology being adopted in football) I have one major doubt. The movement was very unnatural, inconsistent with fighting for balance.

There are two basic semi-controlled instinctive foot behind them moves people employ to maintain balance. Option one is to go back onto your toes, to bounce back against the momentum and get your weight back onto your other foot. In these situations the foot rotates downwards as it is the flex in the ankle that absorbs the momentum. The second option when more weight is going backwards sees the more stable base created on the back foot, but when doing that the individual rotates the leg outwards so the foot is side on to the body, and able to securely halt the momentum.

Rooney goes in with a straight and flat foot. Erase Carvalho from the picture and tell me what the hell Rooney is doing. If the player isn’t there to absorb the force Rooney is in with a very high chance of injuring himself. He has no give in the ankle whatsoever, so the whole force would have gone onto the toe. This was with his whole body weight spinning onto that foot given the rotation of his little jump. He easily could have ended up with a broken left foot to go with the right.

I have to say this weekends comments have tipped the balance somewhat. In my opinion Rooney’s movements were clearly unnatural, so intent was behind them come what may. The area of doubt was what was the intent; was Rooney trying to hit or avoid? Now he has come out and said he couldn’t have done it on purpose as he had no idea where Carvalho was, which would also rule out avoidance. However he wouldn’t lie about the latter would he?

[Red Devil]

Rooney has had his book serialised in a national newspaper today and in an additional section he strongly denies a "deliberate" stamp. He goes on that if he had meant to do it, then the player would not have been able to suddenly get up and continue and would probably not have remained in the World Cup either.

As far as I am concerned he is right, and I believe him.

[manutdc]

I'm not sure SR, I just watched it a few more times and when I'm looking at his foot I see his toes going down as he pivots on his other foot. Seems perfectly natural to me - his toes going down and then the rest of his foot would follow after.

I think he was just trying to turn around and then go back for the ball. He always seems to be looking in the direction of the ball, not back at where Carvalho is.

[Red Devil]

I am getting the impression that some people WANT him to be guilty. Why? But, each and every one of us can see something different in the same painting, so why do we not agree to disagree. I say it was NOT deliberate, if it was, Carvalho would still be in hospital NOW.

[Ajant]

Good he deserves a ban of some sort!

[Red Devil]

So, are you anti England or anti Rooney?

[Ajant]

Hmmmm....probably the first one ;)

Although I hate Rooney's temperament. I have English roots, but I hate the way most ignore their golden boy's bad temper and deliberate silly 'steps' ;)

[Red Devil]

No disrespect Ajant my friend, but your view is clouded and biased.

Nobody else in the world has these problems I take it, players who shine in teams whilst better players stay in the shadows?

England have so called golden boys" and so does everyone else, to their own fans. Its no big deal. The only problem is, with England, they do not play as a TEAM.

[MiddRed]

Good im glad he got 2 match ban coz then at least theres less chance of him being injured whilst playing 4 England and not being able to weave his magic 4 United:cool:

[manutdc]

That's a good point MiddRed, didn't consider that. Would have been better if Saha got banned then, seeing as how often he gets injured on international duty!

[Ajant]

My point was, i feel there's too much pressure laid on Rooney by England, and he can't cope, I think he needs to work on his mental toughness etc. I think you missed my point, the Goldne Boy, I meant Rooney, and only Rooney here. His still young, there's lots of expectation, and yes, his a good player, but what I am SAYING is that he lacks the mental toughness, the right mentality to be a true great. Yes we all do silly things, but I feel Rooney's career will be full of GREAT moments(Dont get me wrong I admire his ability) and BAD/DARK moments when he lashes out all too often. Let's hope he can mature calm down and listen to our great Mentor-Sir Alex.