Wayne Rooney Deserves Three-Match UEFA Ban Even If He Is Truly Sorry

Wayne Rooney let his fiery temper get the best of him ... again.

This time, it will cost his English teammates a full-strength squad for as many as three games at the Euro 2012 competition.

The BBC Sport reports:

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Wayne Rooney will miss the Euro 2012 group stage after being banned for three matches for his sending off against Montenegro.

UEFA's disciplinary panel decided on the punishment for next summer's tournament in Poland and Ukraine at a meeting on Thursday.

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The Football Association, however, plans to appeal the ban.

UEFA's typical policy is to ban players for one game and have a panel decide on additional punishment. Things that factor in should additional punishment be necessary include: 

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the referee's report, representations from the player and national body and the player's disciplinary history.

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Rooney was sent off in a 2006 World Cup quarter-final match against Portugal and is known for his temper.

The play in question is indefensible.

Rooney even penned an apology to UEFA for his actions. He deserves a punishment and needs to realize he's not some 18-year-old kid anymore.

Mirror Football believes the FA's appeal might get the suspension down to two games, but raises an even bigger question:

Does Fabio Capello bring Rooney to the competition if he cannot use him for three games?

The rules, according to the BBC report, indicate that England's 23-man roster has to be handed in 10 days before the tournament starts. Three goalkeepers must be included and any alterations after those 10 days have to come before the first game and due to injury.

BBC reporter Ian McGrarry believes Capello will bring the 25-year-old superstar regardless:

And he also raises a question of whether Rooney will learn a lesson from all this.

In all honesty, the FA shouldn't appeal the ban and should make Rooney sit through his punishment. He needs to be included in the 23-man roster, but he also needs to learn from this immediately if he wants to make a serious run at ever being the leader of the Three Lions.

Rooney has damaged his country's chances in a top-flight tournament due to a irrational act of anger. His actions will force Capello to find alternate scoring options, and it will cost Rooney playing time with his teammates as they will have to prepare for his absence if they want to be successful.

Sitting on the bench, or not even taking trips with the squad in the coming months, will be a sobering experience for the Manchester United star.

The shame of it is that Rooney is playing phenomenal football right now. He leads the English Premier League in scoring and has United looking unbeatable.

He's always had an immense amount of talent, but he cannot hurt his squad this way anymore.

Expect him to be part of the Euro 2012 roster, but England needs Rooney to grow from this, or they run the risk of him damaging them again the future.