Fabio Capello is not prepared to let Wayne Rooney go it alone in the forward line at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

Although it was Capello who allowed Rooney to fill his preferred striking role when he was being shunted out wide for Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson has taken it a step forward. For the majority of big games this season, Rooney has been used as a lone frontman even though Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen have both been around as potential partners.

As the response has been a stunning 28 goals during a campaign that has already brought the Red Devils glory in the League Cup, whilst keeping them in contention for both the UEFA Champions League and Premier League, there has been a debate about whether Rooney could do the same job for England.

Such a move would dispense with the need to play Emile Heskey, the England striker who does not score, and allow Steven Gerrard to occupy a more central midfield role. It seems reasonable enough to many though not to Capello.

My style is always to play with two forwards, one very close to the other.
England manager Fabio Capello

"Yes. I have to decide. For me, it's very important the position that Rooney plays this season," he said. "Can you play him on his own? No. Never. My style is always to play with two forwards, one very close to the other.

"Rooney has been like a single forward at times this season. That is good. But I choose one big forward and one small. I just have to decide who. But it won't be Steven Gerrard. He is a midfielder who goes forward."

As Rooney has recovered from the knee injury that he aggravated in Sunday's League Cup final, the question of who partners England's player of 2009 is one of only three Capello would not answer about his starting line-up to face the CAF African Cup of Nations winners Egypt - goalkeeper and left-back were the others. Theo Walcott is pencilled in for his first cap since June last year despite a series of less-than-convincing displays for Arsenal following his recovery from a hamstring injury.

"I have monitored him a lot," said Capello. "Sometimes he played for 20 or 25 minutes, sometimes for half an hour. The last game he didn't do too badly. For that reason, he is here because he is one of our very important players."

Clearly that places the winger above Shaun Wright-Phillips in the right-wing pecking order, which is probably not that much of a surprise given the Manchester City man has struggled to win a regular starting spot at Eastlands since Roberto Mancini replaced Mark Hughes. No parallel can be drawn with Aaron Lennon, who has impressed during his recent international appearances but is now out for another six weeks with a groin injury that is placing a question mark over his chances of making the plane for South Africa.

Defensive issues
But if he is looking for a problem area, Capello would surely nominate his defence. His right-back, Wes Brown, watched the League Cup final from the substitutes' bench at the weekend, whilst the battle between Stephen Warnock and Leighton Baines for the left-back role is essentially between Capello's third and fourth choices given Ashley Cole is injured and Wayne Bridge no longer wants to be considered.

In the centre, captain-to-be Rio Ferdinand misses his ninth international out of the last 13, whilst the old skipper John Terry has well documented troubles which, although Capello rejects it, seem to be affecting his form. "I am not happy now but I hope that, at the end of the season, some players will be fit," said Capello.

Nevertheless, with regards to Ferdinand, the ongoing worries about the 31-year-old's back were sufficient to warrant a trip to Manchester to meet the player and his manager, who ruled him out of international duty last week. "I met Rio and spoke with Sir Alex and I know exactly what happened," said Capello.

"I also spoke with (chief executive) David Gill at Wembley, who told me it is not the same problem. I don't know. I just hope he will be fit in a short time because he needs to play. You can only find good form when you play games."

Capello expects an "interesting" match tomorrow. "We hope to play very well and we invite the fans to help us," he said. "It's not easy to win the African Nations Cup three times if you are not a good team. I watched Egypt's games and it is a really, really good team. They are dangerous, they are really well organised on the pitch who know what to do in every moment. I think it will be a really interesting test for us."

Capello was pleased with his players' performance in training today after speaking to them following recent off-field issues. "I was really happy with the players, they understood exactly what I wanted," he said. "The most important thing is the leaders, during training on the pitch, were there in every moment today."