Rooney back for England

England hope the entrance of Wayne Rooney will seal the exit of Ukraine as Roy Hodgson’s buoyant side aim to wrap up qualification for the Euro 2012 quarter-finals today.

The 3-2 victory over Sweden on Friday has sent confidence coursing through English ranks, with goals scored by Andy Carroll, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck suddenly giving Roy Hodgson a range of options in attack.

But it is the return of Wayne Rooney from suspension that will give England an extra jolt of optimism as they seek the point they need to clinch a place in the last eight at Donetsk’s Donbass Arena.

“Wayne’s a quality player, a world-class player,” Hodgson said.

“His ability is a bit special. You’re lucky if you’re a manager of a national team to have players of his quality available.”

Hodgson brushed off the prospect that too much might be expected of Rooney, who will be making his first start in a competitive game since May 13.

“This is part of being a top player in an important national team.

“If you are Sweden it’s (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic, if it’s Ukraine I’m sure it’s (Andriy) Shevchenko. If it’s England it’s about Rooney and (Steven) Gerrard.

“You trust these players who have put up with this kind of pressure in their lives for a long time, and that they know how to deal with it,” he said.

With Hodgson yet to confirm which player Rooney will replace in the starting line-up, his other major selection dilemma concerns Walcott, the decisive influence in Kiev after transforming a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory.

The Arsenal winger scored the equaliser before his lacerating pace created the winner for Welbeck after he replaced the pedestrian James Milner early in the second half.

Hodgson, meanwhile, is confident his team will be able to cope with what is certain to be an intimidating atmosphere in Donetsk, where Ukraine must win to avoid elimination.

He believes England will benefit from the experience of Kiev, where an estimated 20,000 Swedish supporters drowned out England’s smaller band of around 4,000 followers to create a hostile atmosphere.

“We’re really getting used to playing away from home,” Hodgson commented.

“We’ve already played in an away game, we have to prepare for another away game.”

Ukraine captain Andriy Shevchenko, who is not 100 per cent fit, said the hosts would have to raise their game after the bubble of euphoria created by their opening win over Sweden was punctured so clinically in last Friday’s 2-0 defeat to France.

“We knew it was a very difficult game and the French played really well. But we still have a chance,” Shevchenko told the media yesterday.

“We know that if we can beat England we’ll qualify.

“But we’ll have to play much better than we did against France if we want to beat England. They are definitely one of the most dangerous teams here.

“They had a good result against France and they beat Sweden, so they’ve had a great start. Home advantage helps us a lot.”