Rooney to miss Estonia match
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England captain Wayne Rooney will miss Friday's 2016 UEFA European Championship qualifying match at home to Estonia due to an ankle injury, the Football Association has confirmed.
The striker, who last month became England's all-time leading goalscorer, has missed three days of training after injuring himself during Manchester United's 3-0 defeat at Arsenal in the Premier League last Sunday. In his absence, Chelsea centre-half Gary Cahill will captain Roy Hodgson's side, who have already qualified for next year's tournament in France after winning all of their eight Group E games to date.
Rooney will remain with the England squad this week, but it remains to be seen if he will travel to Lithuania for their final qualifier next Monday. Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane, Leicester City's Jamie Vardy and Arsenal's Theo Walcott are competing to take his place up front, but Danny Ings is a doubt for the Estonia encounter.
The Liverpool striker is in the England squad for the first time, but again sat out training on Thursday with an ankle complaint. Rooney's United colleague Michael Carrick also missed training, but Swansea City midfielder Jonjo Shelvey returned to action after sitting out the previous two sessions.
The FA confirmed that Rooney will attend the game against Estonia in order to collect a commemorative golden boot for breaking Bobby Charlton's scoring record. Rooney eclipsed Charlton's 49-goal mark with a penalty in a 2-0 win at home to Switzerland and will be presented with the memento by the 1966 FIFA World Cup™-winner before kick-off.