England look to Rooney for last eight berth - Football
Published: 18 Jun 2012 - 11:48:25
England hope the entrance of Wayne Rooney will seal the exit of Ukraine as Roy Hodgson's side aim to wrap up qualification for the Euro 2012 quarter-finals on Tuesday.
A 3-2 victory over Sweden on Friday has sent confidence coursing through English ranks, with goals scored by Andy Carroll, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck suddenly giving Hodgson a range of options in attack.
But it is the return of Rooney from suspension that will give England an extra jolt of optimism as they seek the point they need to clinch a place in the last eight at Donetsk's Donbass Arena.
A fully-fit Rooney is champing at the bit to enter the fray after serving his two-match ban for being sent off in England's final qualifier last year.
"Obviously I'm delighted to be back part of the team and the squad and to be involved again," the Manchester United star said Sunday.
"The lads have done great to put us in the position we are in now and hopefully I'll get a chance to play and try and shine and help us get through the group."
Rooney has ruled out England playing for a draw despite the fact that a point would be enough to secure their passage to the last eight.
"The same as the first two games, we'll go into the game wanting to win and wanting the three points," he said.
"If we have to take a point then we'll happily do that, but we're going into the game trying to get the three points."
Rooney is also convinced England have the ability to mount a successful challenge at the Euros.
"I think we're good enough (to win it)," Rooney said.
"We've got the players to. I know, obviously, everyone doesn't want us to build up expectations but I firmly believe that we've got the players.
"Obviously, you need a bit of luck as well but I believe we've got a good opportunity. We've always believed."
England's preparations suffered a setback late Sunday after it emerged that Walcott, who had been strongly tipped to replace James Milner in the starting line-up, had pulled up in training with a hamstring problem.
"Unfortunately Theo had a slight setback in training, and that's the major concern with him," Hodgson said.
"He felt the hamstring that, of course, kept him out for so long at the end of last season and we were slightly concerned about that when he came to us. But we've been lucky that nothing occurred with that (since then)."
Hodgson meanwhile is confident his team will be able to cope with an intimidating atmosphere in Donetsk.
Hodgson believes England will benefit from the experience of last Friday in Kiev, where an estimated 20,000 Swedish fans drowned out England's smaller band of around 4,000 supporters to create a hostile atmosphere.
"We're getting used to playing away from home," Hodgson said. "We've already played in an away game, we have to prepare for another away game.
"That's what happens -- when you get drawn into a pool with the host nation you have to accept you're literally playing away from home."
Ukraine captain Andrei Shevchenko meanwhile said the hosts would have to raise their game after the bubble of euphoria created by their opening win over Sweden was punctured so clinically in last Friday's 2-0 defeat to France.
"We knew it was a very difficult game and the French played really well, especially in the second half. But we still have a chance," Shevchenko said.
"We know that if we can beat England we'll qualify for the knockout stage. (But) we'll have to play much better than we did against France if we want to beat England. They are definitely one of the most dangerous teams here.
"They had a good result against France and they beat Sweden, so they've had a great start. Home advantage helps us a lot."
Shevchenko, who faces a late fitness test on Monday after damaging a knee in training, also warned his side against focusing excessively on the threat posed by the returning Rooney.
"I know he's a very good player and someone who can change the team," Shevchenko said.
"But the whole England team is very good. They are most dangerous from set-pieces, corners and free-kicks. We will have to watch that."
Related England News
U.S. kids getting more ADHD drugs, fewer antibiotics - Reuters UK
NEW YORK |
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The number of drugs dispensed to U.S. minors has dropped slightly over the past decade, bucking the rise in prescriptions to adults, according to a government report out Monday.
Antibiotics use fell by 14 percent, suggesting efforts to curb rampant overuse of the drugs "may be working," researchers from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) write in the journal Pediatrics.
Experts say antibiotics are commonly used to treat infections caused by viruses, although they only work against bacteria. That has fueled the growth of drug-resistant superbugs.
The new report also found an uptick in the use of some drugs in children, with stimulants for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, leading the pack.
From 2002 to 2010, the use of ADHD drugs grew by 46 percent -- or some 800,000 prescriptions a year. The top drug dispensed to adolescents was the stimulant methylphenidate, also known as Ritalin, with more than four million prescriptions filled in 2010.
"What the article is suggesting is that the number of children that we are treating for attention deficit disorder has gone up," said Dr. Scott Benson, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and a spokesperson for the American Psychiatric Association.
"For the most part I think the overall increase reflects a reduction in the stigma," he told Reuters Health. "It used to be, ‘You're a bad parent if you can't get your child to behave, and you're a doubly bad parent if you put them on medicine.'"
Dr. Lawrence Diller, a behavioral pediatrician who has written extensively about ADHD, was more critical of the rise in stimulant prescriptions, noting that the U.S. is far ahead of other countries in its use of the drugs.
"You have to look at how our society handles school children's problems. It's clear that we rely much, much more on a pharmacological answer than other societies do," Diller said. "The medicine is overprescribed primarily, but under-prescribed for certain inner-city groups of children."
A report in the New York Times last Sunday said stimulant use is becoming a commonly used study drug even among high schoolers, with healthy students easily fooling their doctors into prescribing the coveted drugs.
"There is no objective test, so obtaining the medications is relatively easy," said Diller.
The new findings are based on data from healthcare research firm IMS Health and do not include drugs given at hospitals.
Overall, there were 263 million filled prescriptions to minors in 2010, down seven percent since 2002. After taking population changes into account, that corresponds to a nine-percent drop; by contrast, adult prescriptions rose by 11 percent.
Prescription drugs classes that showed marked dips among children included allergy medicines, cough and cold drugs, painkillers, and antidepressants.
Apart from ADHD drugs, asthma medicine and birth control pills also showed increases.
The FDA said it could not explain the reasons behind the changes.
ACID REFLUX IN INFANTS
The agency also looked at an acid reflux drug called lansoprazole (sold as Prevacid) due to concerns about efficacy and safety in infants.
The medication is not indicated for children younger than one, and studies show it has no effect in that age group. Yet doctors wrote 358,000 prescriptions for the drug to babies under one in 2010.
Dr. Eric Hassall, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the California Pacific Medical Center, said the number reflects rampant overuse of acid drugs in infants.
"These drugs work very well when they are prescribed for the right indication," he told Reuters Health. "But in infants they are very seldom indicated."
He added that stomach acid is the first defense against many infections and blocking it even for part of the day will raise children's risk of pneumonia and stomach infections.
"My concern is that we are unnecessarily exposing infants to infectious and nutritional complications," Hassall said. "Doctors are too quick to prescribe and parents are very quick to demand, and this is of course driven by consumer advertising."
"I would advise parents that if their child is growing and developing normally despite spitting up, they should resist the urge to give the child a medical diagnosis and administer prescription medications," he added. "If their child is excessively irritable or otherwise unwell, they should seek medical consultation."
SOURCE: bit.ly/HjQ8dI Pediatrics, online June 18, 2012.
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