England's manager Sven-Goran Eriksson told a press conference today that he seriously considers having Manchester United's striker Wayne Rooney in England's starting line-up for the last Group B match of the world cup against the Swedish national football team.

"In principle, I can do it," said Eriksson when asked about his plans on Wayne Rooney, indicating that he won't let anyone have a say on the decision. "It's totally up to me and this time no doctor will have a say. Wayne is match fit and it will have been good for him to get 30 minutes on the pitch."

Manchester United's manager Sir Alex Ferguson is concerned about his player and would rather prefer that Rooney stayed on the bench, however he can't complain about his injury, as Eriksson asked independent medical advice on Rooney's injury and Ferguson's worries have been addressed. Eriksson does not want any further arguments with Manchester United's manager and has moved to address all his concerns.

"We don't want to rush him but we will look very closely at how he does and we will take it one day at a time," the England manager said about the player's match fitness. The Swede coach has repeatedly told reporters that Wayne Rooney is match fit and that it is entirely up to him whether to include Rooney in the starting Line-Up against Sweden.

"We all know what kind of a football player Wayne Rooney is... Of course he's not 100 percent in form but you can't expect that. But now he's in the tournament and he can only get better and better. I'm relieved that the Rooney saga is over. It has been talked about every day, every press conference. Really the players were fed up with it," Eriksson said, trying to divert the press conference on other issues about the team.

England captain David Beckham urged fans not to put much pressure on Rooney and lower their expectations from him, as it is difficult for him to start scoring goals on his first cap after a prolonged injury recovery process.

"People expected that as soon as he came on that he would go past four players and stick one in the top corner... He's more than capable of doing that but it's about him getting his fitness now and he's done that with the 30 minutes he got, but we have to be patient with him."

"The World Cup needs a player like Wayne Rooney. You want to see the best players perform in the biggest competitions in the world and we've got that. But it's his first game in six or seven weeks and we've got to be very patient," David Beckham said.

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