Wayne Rooney Out of England’s Estonia Meeting

October 10 England will rest five players from the squad to face Lithuania next week following Friday’s 2-0 win over Estonia that saw their ideal record reach nine games in Euro 2016 qualifying Group D.

Theo Walcott and Raheem Sterling downed Estonia for England’s ninth win in nine Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Rooney missed training for the second day running when England held their latest session at St George’s Park and, though he stayed with the squad as captain, there is an acceptance behind the scenes there is no point risking him when the team have already qualified.

Playing or not, Rooney will be ever-present on Friday as he will collect a commemorative gold boot for breaking the goal scoring record with his penalty in the 2-0 victory over Switzerland last month.

Hodgson is unfussed whether Walcott plays strictly as a striker, with Kane also liking to drop deep, and has simply urged the Arsenal man to forge the same kind of connection and play in the same way as he does with Alexis Sanchez.

Hodgson will have to choose an alternative captain if Rooney is ruled out, with Chelsea centre-back Gary Cahill and Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart among the front-runners.

The 26-year-old has mostly played in wide positions for the national team and has scored seven goals in 41 appearances for England.

“Now that I have got the call, I want to build on it and progress again”.

Another striker who could get a chance to play up front with Rooney unavailable is Danny Ings, although he has missed the last two days of training.

“I’m pleased the friendly games can be matches we can lose, which might see us sink even further down the rankings, rather than wins against teams which won’t teach us everything we need to learn, ” Hodgson said.

“He is perfectly comfortable with that”.

“That’s just an aspect of a coach’s job with a very talented young player”.

If they beat Lithuania in Vilnius on Monday, they will become only the sixth side in history to qualify for the European Championship with a pristine qualifying record.

“We want to tap into those qualities”.

“We are not in an experimental mode, we think we’ve done enough experimenting”, he said. “He’s got a good career ahead of him, so it’s nice he’ll get an opportunity”.

England deserve their half-time lead.

QUIZ: Can you name every player to appear for England under Roy Hodgson?