Rooney to Start Against Sweden

Sven-Goran Eriksson has confirmed Wayne Rooney will start England's match against Sweden tomorrow but the coach is considering a more radical alteration that would see an angry Steven Gerrard sit out the final group game.

Rooney was asked to partner Michael Owen in attack yesterday during England's final training session in the Black Forest before heading to Cologne, while Owen Hargreaves took the place of Gerrard in midfield. Eriksson also considered playing Tottenham's Jermaine Jenas in place of Frank Lampard, but in the end stuck to his assertion of Saturday that he would change no more than two of his starting line-up for a game England do not need to win.

The Swede has primed Hargreaves to play in a one-off 4-1-3-2 formation. The Bayern Munich player was handed a first-team bib in training and looks set to play in a holding midfield role that will give Lampard the licence to break forward and support the Owen-Rooney axis in attack.

Gerrard, among the reserves yesterday and reportedly none too happy about it, is expected to be left out to protect him from a second yellow card that would rule him out of the first knockout phase, when England will play Germany or Ecuador. Peter Crouch, whose place will be taken by Rooney, is in the same situation, although the biggest factor in Eriksson's decision to replace him is that he wants Rooney to hone his sharpness before the next round of matches.

"With our medical staff we've discussed it and they and I think he [Rooney] can play more than 45 minutes," Eriksson said. "And, if he can play more than 45, it is better that he starts the game rather than coming on."

Though Rooney looked conspicuously off the pace when he came on as a second-half substitute during the win over Trinidad & Tobago, the centre-half John Terry has been impressed by his performances in training: "I think he'd tell you he'd got 160 minutes in him. He does look very good. Marking him is a nightmare so obviously it's looking good. He's looking very sharp and very ready to go."

Jamie Carragher is likely to continue deputising for Gary Neville, although the Manchester United full-back has resumed light training and seems to be making encouraging progress from the calf injury that ruled him out of Thursday's victory.

Referee is familiar face

England will be refereed by a familiar face when they take on Sweden in Cologne tomorrow. Massimo Busacca from Switzerland was also the referee when Sven-Goran Eriksson's side were beaten 1-0 by Northern Ireland in Belfast in World Cup qualifying last September. Wayne Rooney was lucky to avoid being sent off when he hurled abuse at Busacca - and his captain David Beckham - after being booked during one of the most humiliating defeats of Eriksson's reign. This is Busacca's first World Cup and he also refereed Spain's 4-0 victory against Ukraine when he sent off Vladislav Vashchuk.