After holding France to a draw in the opening encounter of their Euro 2012 campaign, Wayne Rooney has joined the England team in training, as they get ready for the all important clash against Sweden on Friday. Some of the senior stars of the team such as Scott Parker, Joe Hart, Ashley Cole, John Terry and the captain Steven Gerrard were given a day’s rest.

Rooney was suspended for the Monday’s match, and had to watch the game from the bench in Donetsk. He has to wait for another match too as he serves out his suspension. Theo Walcott, the Arsenal forward, joined Wayne Rooney in training in spite of the fact that he came on late as a substitute in the France game.

Henderson replaced parker in the midfield in Monday’s game during the second half and will be hoping for starting role in Fridays match up. However, the news has it, that Hodgson is likely to stay with the same 11.

France were touted as the Group D favourites and the draw against them was a good start for England. Hodgson thinks that his team will only get better as the tournament progresses. He said that you do not really become a good team within ten training sessions and three matches; the French team has gone for 22 matches without a defeat and that sort of achievement cannot be accomplished overnight.

He also said that his team members are playing together, getting familiar with each other’s styles and the longer the players stick together the better will be the team as a unit. He was happy to get the France game out of the way and was happy to see that his players were capable of coping with the pressure at these levels.

Although Rooney will still be missing in the Friday’s game, Hodgson is looking forward to it. He says that it gives them a good platform as his team member become fitter with every match and he hopes that there are no injury worries.