INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY: SWEDEN V ENGLAND
Venue: Swedbank Arena, Stockholm Date: Wednesday 14 November Kick-off: 19:30 BST
England have injury concerns over Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott ahead of their friendly against Sweden on Wednesday.
Rooney went off after 79 minutes of Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Aston Villa on Saturday.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said: “He’s got an ankle knock and has ice on it. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.”
Walcott injured his buttock muscles in the first half of Arsenal’s 3-3 draw with Fulham and was replaced with six minutes of the game remaining.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said Walcott may not be fit to travel to Stockholm.
“Walcott has a glute muscle problem,” he said. “At the moment, he is limping so I do not know whether he will be able to join the national team.”
The Frenchman admitted his decision to leave the 23-year-old on the pitch could have exacerbated the problem.
“We nearly took him off at half-time – he nearly went down – but we left him on and on,” he said. “In the end, it got worse and worse.”
Walcott suffered a chest injury during his most recent England appearance when he collided with San Marino goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini during England’s 5-0 World Cup qualifier win. It forced him to miss the qualifier against Poland five days later in Warsaw.
Despite winning 30 caps, he has only played two full games – both against Andorra.
Theo Walcott’s England career
May 2006: Becomes England’s youngest-ever senior player in a 3-1 friendly win over Hungary, aged 17 years and 75 days
Jun 2006: Named in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s squad for the World Cup in Germany, though he does not get to play
Aug 2006: Marks his Under-21s debut with a goal against Moldova after three minutes
Sep 2008: Becomes youngest-ever England player to score a hat-trick, in a World Cup qualifier against Croatia
Jun 2010: Left out of World Cup squad by Fabio Capello
Jan 2011: Capello admits regretting his decision to omit Walcott
Jun 2012: Scores the equaliser in group match against Sweden at Euro 2012 after coming on as a substitute
Oct 2012: Injured in collision with San Marino goalkeeper
BBC Sport
