Rooney: Nightmare not to qualify

Wayne Rooney has admitted it would be 'a nightmare' if England failed to reach Euro 2008.

Victory over Estonia at Wembley on Saturday would leave the team requiring only a draw in Russia next week and another in their final game against Croatia on November 21 to reach next summer's finals.

"For England, if we didn't qualify it would be a nightmare," he said. "As a player you want to play in all the big tournaments and around the time of the Andorra game we were under a lot of pressure."

He added: "But I always believed we were going to qualify. We have two games coming up and we know if we can get maximum points from them we will almost be in the tournament."

With Emile Heskey missing, Rooney is a certainty to partner Michael Owen in attack, although it is at the back where McClaren has most to ponder.

Veteran Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell is the obvious candidate to replace injured captain John Terry, whose knee injury was still so badly swollen on Thursday it was impossible to get an accurate assessment of the extent of the problem.

Although McClaren has not given up hope of Terry making the journey to Moscow, it appears highly unlikely the Chelsea man will make it, with cartilage surgery an equally plausible alternative.