Rooney handed captain's armband
England manager Roy Hodgson has confirmed that Wayne Rooney will captain his country in Friday's World Cup qualifier against San Marino.
The 26-year-old, who has represented his country on 76 occasions, has been handed the captain's armband as Steven Gerrard is suspended for the match while Frank Lampard has pulled out of the squad because of a knee injury.
Rooney previously captained England in November 2009 when he stood in for the injured John Terry in a 1-0 friendly defeat to Brazil in Doha. Gerrard is expected to be reinstated as captain for next Tuesday's crucial game in Poland.
England are 13.00 to thrash San Marino 9-0 at Wembley, with Rooney 2.87 to open the scoring and 1.40 to score two or more goals against the European minnows.
Lampard has been unable to train properly after picking up the knee injury during Chelsea's win against Norwich City last weekend. He has gone back to his club for treatment and will return to the England camp on Sunday for further assessment ahead of the trip to Poland.
Lampard's Chelsea team-mate Ryan Bertrand has also been forced to drop out of Hodgson's squad as he needs further treatment on a throat infection that has failed to clear up.
The 23-year-old tweeted: "Just to clarify.... Its not a "sore throat" Im ill.swollen glands in my neck... And constant headache for 3 days now and freezin cold."
