Final cost of Rooney red

Rooney’s over-the-top reaction to losing possession raised familiar question marks over his temperament, which seemed to have been under control since his four-letter rant into a TV camera at West Ham last season.

Now England are faced with the problem of knowing their striking talisman will miss at least the first group game at next summer’s tournament – and possibly more. And there is the heightened possibility of opponents attempting to wind up the Manchester United man in the games he does play, even if Capello tried to put a positive gloss on the situation.

“It will be a good lesson for him,” said the Italian. “We have to play three games at the start next year. I don’t know how many he will miss. One, maybe two but I hope not. Really, it is too early to speak about it.”

As UEFA will presumably deal with all disciplinary matters arising from this week’s games prior to the November play-offs, Capello will know by the time his squad gather for a high-profile friendly against Spain exactly how long Rooney will be absent. The major concern, though, is that for all the psychological advancements Rooney has made down the years, he remains capable of moments when it is hard to understand what is going through his mind beyond an obvious sense of frustration.

Given his overall demeanour, it is difficult to put Friday night’s events solely down to the stress he must have felt over the arrest of his father Wayne Snr on Thursday in a police investigation into alleged betting allegations. The 48-year-old has denied any wrongdoing.

“Guys, I can’t enter Wayne Rooney’s head,” said Capello, with more than a hint of exasperation. “I can speak before. I can substitute him. I can find different solutions. But, during a game, you cannot understand the reaction of the players or why things happen. And I am not just talking about Wayne Rooney.”

As England’s greatest attacking threat, the subject of Rooney’s behaviour is something that will not go away. It is a matter of regret from all sides that the post-game chatter should be about the striker’s blatant kick at Miodrag Dzudovic rather than the achievement of booking a trip to Poland and Ukraine.

Emerging as the unbeaten and clear winners of Group G is a decent feat for a team which was on its knees following the World Cup. Now though, Capello is going to get a chance to assess the merits of his squad given two of their next three opponents are Spain and Holland, currently the top two sides in the world.

Spain are confirmed visitors to Wembley on 12 November, a fixture that will allow Capello to assess how long his side can match the best. “It will be really interesting,” he said. “Spain are the world champions. They are difficult to play against because their style is fantastic.”

With a potential three friendlies to play before he finalises his squad, the England coach must complete the balancing act of keeping his best players together, while exposing those with potential to high-level combat from which so much information can be gleaned.

And it all will be underpinned by the knowledge that Capello felt his players had all the energy sapped out of them in the period between November and March, prior to their World Cup debacle.

Much will be monitored in the interim. However, the early signs are that Capello is leaning towards experimentation against the world champions, which could be good news for Tom Cleverley and Daniel Sturridge in particular given they are the most notable emerging talents who remain uncapped.

“We will play young players and new players,” said Capello. “I want to see how they do when they wear the senior shirt. It will be a really difficult game but it will help me to understand a lot of things.”