England Euro 12: Wayne Rooney Will Be Hero vs. Ukraine

Wayne Rooney is back and ready for action at Euro 2012, and he's going to be the reason his England team finds success against the Ukraine.

While there's no doubting that the Manchester United star is one of the best strikers in the game—37 goals and six assists in 2011-12—there's also no doubting that he hurt his national team when he was suspended for two matches in Euro 2012, thus missing the fixtures against France and Sweden.

While England took care of business against Sweden with a 3-2 win, they really could have used his services against France, in a game where their offensive chances were few, thus resulting in a 1-1 tie. Ties aren't the end of the world in a tournament like Euro 2012, but those extra points could have been helpful, as now England is second in Group D with four points, and its next opponent right behind it with three in Ukraine.

England could have really used the scoring touch of Rooney, but there's no going back at this point. The only thing Rooney can do is help his team moving forward now that he is eligible, and he can start with a superstar performance against Ukraine.

If England wants to make a deep run at Euro 2012, Rooney is going to have to be an integral piece. According to quotes via Henry Winter of The Telegraph, Rooney does feel his team is good enough to be the big winner:

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“I know everyone doesn’t want us to build expectations up, but I firmly believe that we’ve got the players,’’ remarked the vice-captain when asked whether England could triumph in Kiev on July 1.

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“We’re more organised than we’ve ever been as long as I’ve been in the squad and we’re hard to beat now. If we keep doing that and keep working hard then there’s no reason we can’t be in with a shout of winning it. We’re good enough.

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Rooney may feel that England is good enough to capture the Euro 2012 title, and that's all fine and dandy, but now he's going to have to go out there and prove it.

I think he'll do just that, and he'll start this Tuesday.

If there's anything I've learned in sports, it's that the biggest and brightest stars somehow find a way to show up in the biggest moments, and there's no doubting this match against Ukraine is huge for England.

Add in to that the fact that Rooney is going to be well rested, and I can only assume motivated, and it's safe to say that we'll see a big match out of him.

Rooney may have hurt his team by not being their in the first two matches, but he'll end up being the hero for England against Ukraine.

Prediction: England 4, Ukraine 2. Rooney: 2 goals