Euro 2012 News: Rooney's ban reduced to two matches

The debate over whether Wayne Rooney will be included in England's squad for Euro 2012 is now surely over after his three-match ban was reduced to two in a meeting with Uefa this morning in Switzerland.

Rooney was punished after being sent off for kicking Miodrag Dzudovic during a 2-2 draw with Montenegro in October, the Manchester United striker since admitting the kick was "stupid" but that the punishment was a "bit harsh". Initially Uefa imposed a three-match ban which would have seen Rooney miss all three group games at next summer's tournament against France, Sweden and Ukraine. That led to sections of the Media and fans questioning the wisdom of selecting a player who wouldn't have been eligible to play a single match at the tournament if England failed to make the quarter-finals. Manager Fabio Capello responded to the ban by leaving Rooney out of his squads to play friendlies against Spain and Sweden to experiment with other options.

The fact the former Everton man will be available for the third group match against hosts Ukraine means he will now surely be included in England's squad but he's understandably unfancied in the top goalscorer market where he's currently trading at 23.022/1. The Betfair markets are sweeter on England's overall chances where they are 1.558/15 to get out of the group stages, 2.6213/8 to win the group and 11.010/1 fourth-favourites to go all the way.

The one-match reduction is seen as a huge victory for Rooney and England. The FA's Director of Communications Adrian Bevington was quick to express his satisfaction with the outcome.

"It was a fair hearing. ...We arrived with the possibility of him missing the entire group phase - it would have been a huge challenge for Fabio and the team, so to have him available for the final group march against Ukraine is clearly very positive."

A Uefa spokesman told BBC Sport the third game ban would kick in only if he is sent off for violent conduct in another European Championship match. Rooney has also agreed to do one-day of community service with a Uefa project.

Capello joined his star striker in a 90-minute hearing before a three-man appeals panel on Thursday morning in Nyon, Rooney making the short trip from Basel after Manchester United's shock 2-1 defeat last night, which meant they were knocked out of this year's edition of the Champions League.

It was a similarly disappointing night for neighbours Manchester City who did their bit by beating Bayern Munich but were always dependant on Napoli not managing to beat Villarreal. The Italians were still level at the break but two second-half goals meant they qualified at the expense of Roberto Mancini's men.