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Eriksson pleads for calm as Rooney comeback hopes mount
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-06-07 09:10 "It's totally up to the surgeons, specialists and doctors," he said. "I always told you he will take part in the World Cup and I still believe it - very, very strongly."
Rooney's Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville, who suffered a similar injury in 2002 that forced him out of the World Cup, also urged caution and warned that appearances could be dangerously deceptive. "It's encouraging in one sense," said Neville. "But I have an experience in 2002 while I was in Manchester recuperating from my broken foot. It's not always how it appears. "I was jogging prior to my scan and went to see the specialist thinking I would be given the go ahead to start training and was told I'd have to have an operation four days later. "I hope that doesn't happen for Wayne -- everyone wants him to take part in the World Cup. But until the surgeons have met tomorrow I don't think anybody will know for sure. "The lad's had a broken foot, just leave him be. Let him rehabilitate, he'll be looked after by the right people." Yet while Eriksson and Neville sought to keep a lid on the mounting hysteria surrounding Rooney, there was no such restraint on the pages of Britain's newspapers, which have reported on every twist and turn of the saga. "There is a God," trumpeted the mass-market tabloid The Sun, which like other newspapers, carried the image of Rooney, in full-flight, belting the ball, on its front page. "Rootiful!" said the Daily Mirror, "Wayne's Metatarsal Miracle", headlined the Daily Mail, while the Daily Star went with "The World at Our Feet" and "The picture the whole country has been waiting to see." The newspapers noted that Rooney appeared to suffer no reaction after being put through his paces by England team physiotherapist Gary Lewin. Several newspapers quoted unnamed sources in the England camp as saying Rooney may even be on the bench for the team's final group game against Sweden on June 20, though the later knockout rounds are a more realistic target. The broadsheet Daily Telegraph and The Times were more cautious in their approach, noting that only Wednesday's scan can determine if Rooney is fit. The Sun claimed, however, that Alex Ferguson was furious at learning of Rooney's exploits, without quoting the Manchester United manager directly. Ferguson has reportedly been concerned about his young prodigy suffering a long-term injury if he is brought back into action too soon.
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