Why England may be missing a trick with Rooney exclusion against Spain

Wayne Rooney has not been selected for Saturday's friendly with Spain

When Wayne Rooney's act of stupidity in Montenegro led to a three-game ban, critics were lining up to say he should not be in contention for the friendlies leading up to Euro 2012.

Rooney has been left out of Saturday's glamour friendly against Spain but surely Fabio Capello is missing the point by excluding him from this game.

If England are to have any chance of winning Euro 2012 - and they should be contenders considering what they are paying Capello - then it is highly likely they will have to beat Spain along the way.

And if they are to beat Spain, clearly Rooney has to play and has to be on the top of his game.

Saturday's friendly should be an opportunity for Capello to play his strongest side, the team he would play if England faced Spain in the knockout stages next year.

Rooney would clearly be a member of that side - the most important member - and therefore should have been selected by Capello this weekend.

Of course, the Italian must look at other players and other strike partnerships, as England will have to do without Rooney for the group stages in Poland and Ukraine, but there will be plenty of opportunities to do that in the coming months.

Besides, there shouldn't be much he doesn't already know about the likes of Darren Bent, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Jermain Defoe anyway.

Will Capello really learn much from the new strike partnerships?

If he really needed to look at potential partnerships, Tuesday's friendly against Sweden may have been a better time to experiment. It is also likely there will be plenty more friendlies between now and next summer.

England mustn't be embarrassed by Spain at Wembley but, equally, they mustn't be overawed.

The result is not the be all and end all - it is a friendly, let's remember - but it is crucial the younger players blooded into the team are not humiliated. They need confidence if they are to thrive.

Rooney's presence may have just given everyone that extra confidence.

He is England's best player and without him, they have no talisman. They have pretty much nobody to truly frighten Spain.

This game should have been treated as more than a friendly. It should have been treated as essentially a test match to see if England do have any chance of triumphing next summer.

The players need to get used to playing together and naturally that includes playing with Rooney in the side.

Another thing to consider is that Rooney has rarely played against the best opposition for England. Not when he has been fully fit and firing, anyway.

Rooney cut a frustrated figure at the 2010 World Cup

In 2004, he impressed but was forced off with injury early in the quarter-final with Portugal. In 2006, he was again limited by injury and his red card against Portugal cost him the chance of proving himself. In 2010, issues outside of football clearly took their toll on him and he wasn't exactly helped against Germany by his team-mates.

He has played consistently in qualifying, of course, but not against the kind of opposition England will need to beat if they are to win a major tournament.

Saturday's Spain game would have given him the chance to do that.

It may only be classed as a friendly but it could have been much more important than that to Rooney.

His team-mates must also get used to playing quality opposition like Spain and they must work on how to get the best out of Rooney in those games.

The chance to devise a plan for a possible clash with Spain next summer has now been compromised by Rooney's exclusion.

Capello needs to try new partnerships but should have waited until after the game against arguably the best national side in the world.

The real regrets about this decision may come next summer.