The Telegraph : Provocation may light fire in Rooney

Montenegro v England: provoking Wayne Rooney may backfire
Montenegro have been warned that any attempt to provoke Wayne Rooney into another reckless red card on Tuesday night could backfire and only inspire the England striker to produce a match-winning performance.

Rooney was banned for the opening two matches of Euro 2012 after being sent off for inexplicably kicking Miodrag Dzudovic when England drew 2-2 with Montenegro on their previous visit to Podgorica’s City Stadium in 2011.

With qualification for the World Cup finals next summer potentially resting on the match tomorrow, the expectation is that Montenegro, who lead Group H by two points, will attempt to target Rooney and “wind up” the England players with a series of frustration tactics.

There is confidence within the England camp, however, that Rooney has sufficiently matured in the inter­vening 17 months to handle what is certain to be an intense atmosphere.

Joleon Lescott said that Montenegro could suffer a Rooney “backlash” if they attempted to antognise his team-mate while manager Roy Hodgson is confident that his star player will not be affected by returning to the scene of one of the lowest moments in his career.

“He’s scoring goals, isn’t he?” Hodgson said. “There’s no reason for his confidence to be fragile. He’s so experienced, I’m sure he’s capable of writing off that incident. He’s paid his price. I’d like to think he’d forget all about it.”