Topics: England, Wayne Rooney, Sir Bobby Charlton, Estonia, Lithuania, Roy Hodgson
England has already secured its ticket to the tournament in France next summer. Rooney became England's leading scorer in their previous game.

England will have to play the rest of the Euro Qualifier without the best striker England has ever seen. Wayne Rooney, who just hit the 50-goal mark to pass Sir Bobby Charlton as the best goal-scorer in the history of the Three Lions, has been ruled out of the games against Estonia and Lithuania with an ankle injury.

Roy Hodgson had already made it clear that the weight of Rooney in the national team would not determine if he was a starter or not. The good news is that the games are not crucial for England as the team has already clinched its ticket to the upcoming Euro Cup. The team has been perfect so far with eight wins in eight games.

"Wayne is not the type of person or type of player who likes to miss a game," Hodgson said. "He's got a lot of important Manchester United games ahead and I would be devastated if we pushed him out there and something happened to increase the problem he has with the ankle."

There is already a new captain in the squad to take care of Rooney's absence. Gary Cahill will be the one wearing the armband with the C imprinted in it. England has already secured first place in Group E and will be facing two teams that still have hopes of getting in either directly or through playoffs.

In the words of Roy

Rooney will be in Friday's game as Sir Bobby Charlton will give him a golden boot for establishing a new goal-scoring record with the national team in the game against Switzerland last month. After that, he may be returning to Manchester to continue rehabilitation. 

The new captain speaks out