Swedish defender Olaf Mellberg hopes that England striker Wayne Rooney loses his appeal to reduce his Euro 2012 ban.
The Manchester United forward will find out later today (Thursday) if his three-match suspension is amended at a hearing in Switzerland.
The former Aston Villa centre-back believes that the 26-year-old's omission from the whole group stage would boost Sweden's chance of progressing.
When asked whether he hoped Rooney's suspension would be upheld, Mellberg replied: "Yes. Rooney is a great, great player and already has a lot of experience for Manchester United and England.
"Rooney is England's best player and, of course, they would miss him. He's young, he's done really well and has a lot of experience in major championships and that would help England too. But England had a lot of players missing when we played them at Wembley [last month] and they did well.
"England have more players to choose from than Sweden. If we have two or three players missing, we are probably more affected than England."
England take on Sweden on Friday, June 15 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev.
Jack Prescott
