The Indie:
The Football Association has backed Wayne Rooney's refusal to apologise for his stamp on Ricardo Carvalho which resulted in a red card against Portugal and the striker will now have to take his chances with the world governing body, Fifa, who will decide the length of his ban next month.
The 20-year-old was told he could reduce a potential five-match ban by one match if he apologised, instead he will write to the governing body with his own version of events. On Monday, Rooney issued a statement in which he said that he "absolutely categorically" denied that he had intentionally stamped on Carvalho.
As well as a fine, Rooney faces missing out on the start of England's Euro 2008 qualification campaign under Steve McClaren - if he is banned for five matches then he will not return until the game away to Israel on 24 March. The FA's director of communications, Adrian Bevington, said: "I can confirm the FA will be submitting a response to Fifa within the next 36 hours with regard to Wayne Rooney's sending off.
"Wayne has already made clear publicly he did not have any intention of making contact with Ricardo Carvalho. It is also worth noting that we believe there were one or two potential fouls against Wayne during the same move."