Rooney relishing England run

England face something of an attacking injury crisis when they take on Ukraine on Wednesday, but the presence of Wayne Rooney, set to win his 50th cap at Wembley, should more than make up for that.

Friendly win
Rooney, 23, took his England goal tally to 21 by scoring twice in Saturday's 4-0 friendly defeat of Slovakia, setting Fabio Capello's side up nicely for the midweek FIFA World Cup qualifier as they seek to bolster their formidable five-point Group 6 lead. The Manchester United FC forward seemed to be running out of strike partners against Slovakia as Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole and Peter Crouch all limped off, and the first of that trio is definitely out of the Ukraine fixture, with Darren Bent already called up.

Enjoyment
However, Rooney was inspired against Slovakia, being named man of the match even before claiming his second goal at the death, and his first-half interchange with Steven Gerrard on the left will have worried Ukraine. "I'm enjoying it, and most importantly we won," Rooney said. "I thought we deserved it, we played some great football at times. [Gerrard and myself] change positions very well and it seemed to work. Getting on the ball, getting in space. We wanted to take the work we had done on to the pitch and I think we did that well at times."

Terry feat
Coincidentally, England captain John Terry reached the 50-cap mark on Saturday, and could be faced with former Chelsea FC team-mate Andriy Shevchenko against Ukraine. But the defender turned his attention to Rooney, suggesting he could emulate David Beckham, now England's most-capped outfielder after his 109th appearance as a half-time substitute last night, and even beat goalkeeper Peter Shilton's tally of 125.

'One of the best'
"We were speaking about Becks and my 50th cap on the way to the match and I was saying to Wayne he could possibly get to 150," Terry said. "It's a reachable target, and certainly 100 is. He's probably missed 20 games through injuries and suspensions and things already. But he's very young, very talented and one of the best in the world, that's for sure. His goals are there as well, and his link-up play; you saw the one-two Frank Lampard played with him against Slovakia. With Wayne's vision, he can pick people out and he's always a threat from inside and outside the box; that's the threat he poses to any team."