He spent the afternoon looking ill at ease in Cardiff after being asked to fill England's perennially troublesome left-sided position; he failed to score and he got himself booked for a senseless challenge when England were in complete control of their Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales.

And to crown a futile and perplexing afternoon for Wayne Rooney, he appeared totally unaware of the consequences.

For the fans who made the trek to the Millennium Stadium, the question was: When will the real Wayne Rooney turn up for England?

On his knees: Wayne Rooney looked frustrated after not scoring against Wales

For Rooney, told that he would miss England's European Championship qualifier against Switzerland next June, the question, according to manager Fabio Capello, was simple: Why?

Capello sounded both bemused and amused afterwards when he revealed how Rooney had been blissfully unaware that his booking would rule him out of the potentially more difficult task against the Swiss because he had been awarded a yellow card in a previous qualifying game against Montenegro.

Capello, said: 'I just told him he is suspended. He said: "What? Why?" It's two yellow cards. He was surprised. He will miss the game but he didn't remember he had been booked.'

Maybe Rooney will remember the anniversary which falls this Wednesday, when it will be a year to the day since he limped off with an ankle injury while playing for Manchester United against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final.

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