Fabio Capello Praises Wayne Rooney

Fabio Capello has praised striker Wayne Rooney as he put his personal troubles to one side last night to get the first goal for England in their Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland.

It was announced earlier in the week that the Manchester United player would travel to Switzerland for the match despite his troubles off the pitch but there was no certainty that he would be on Capello's start list.

But the Italian went with Rooney, once again playing him just behind Jermaine Defoe,  and he justified his selection as he put England ahead after just ten minutes.

Speaking to the BBC after the match Capello said: "The pressure was on Rooney but he played very well. The players want to play without other things on their minds. They can focus on the game alone. He did that. He and the others were happy at the end.

"He played in a position that he played against Bulgaria, in the hole," added Capello after England went top of Group C with a 100% record after two games.

"This position is good for him. It's easy for him to get into positions to shoot at goal."

It was another confident performance from England as they ran out 3-1 winners of Switzerland and now sit at the top of their qualifying group.

As Rooney got proceedings underway Theo Walcott had to be stretchered off with an ankle injury and he was replaced by the full of confidence Adam Johnson, who scored his first international goal on Friday against Bulgaria.

England were handed a major advantage in the sixty fourth minute when Switzerland were reduced to ten men as Lichtsteiner received a second yellow card for a foul on James Milner.

And after missing earlier on in the match Johnson put his international goal tally up to two as he found the back of the net in the sixty ninth minute as he picked up a great pass from Gerrard before going around keep Benagilo to slot it home.

But Switzerland did pull one goal back as Shaqiri halved the advantage just two minutes later as he fired a shot into the top corner, a shot that Joe Hart could do nothing about.

But any nerves England fans may have had were put to rest as Bent, who came on for the injured Defoe, once again established a two goal lead when he scored in the eighty eighth minute.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw