Andorra will turn up heat on 'arrogant' Rooney

The last time England played Andorra in Barcelona, the greatest threat was posed by the travelling fans and their toxic calls for Steve McClaren to quit. Yesterday the Andorra captain stoked up the atmosphere ahead of England's first 2010 World Cup qualifier tomorrow by accusing Wayne Rooney of being "arrogant and foul-mouthed".

England's big test might be against Croatia on Wednesday but, nevertheless, the part-time footballer and full-time insurance broker Oscar Sonejee did his best to remind Rooney that there is a game tomorrow which may not yet prove a formality. Sonejee, who plays his club football for FC Andorra, said that Rooney was out of control in the match in March 2007 in which McClaren was forced to substitute the player for fear that he would get a second yellow card and be dismissed.

Sonejee, 32, said that Rooney abused him: "We were talking and he said, 'I'm a star player' and insulted me – and then I insulted him back. In his mind, he was thinking, 'Who are Andorra? They have small players who are not professionals'. Rooney was arrogant. When he plays Croatia, he's probably not so arrogant. The match was a very hot situation and when Rooney talks, he's very hot and very aggressive. He said things to me and I responded.

"England are better technically and physically – but our opportunity is that we are very strong and aggressive. It's very important for us to be physical and, in this game, I will try to do better than last year."

So will England although there are still very real worries about the fitness of Rio Ferdinand who missed training again yesterday with a back problem. His presence against Andorra is not crucial, Capello would much rather have the defender for the match against Croatia in Zagreb on Wednesday. Stewart Downing and Joe Cole contest the position alongside Rooney and behind Jermain Defoe but as usual, the players are being kept in the dark about their places.

When England played Andorra at home two years ago, McClaren's second game in charge, the then England manager warned that a team from a nation of 71,000 people, with better skiers than footballers, would set out to kick his England team. It turned out to be one of the predictions that McClaren got correct. The result aside, injuries are what Capello will be worried about from tomorrow's game against a team currently ranked by Fifa as 186th in the world, one place behind the Cayman Islands.

Before the serious test against Croatia there will be some bad memories of the match against Andorra in the Montjuic stadium among the eight players from that squad who are in the England camp this week. Gareth Barry was a non-playing substitute that night watching as the abuse rained down on McClaren whose team had come to Barcelona straight from a bad goalless draw against Israel in Tel Aviv four days earlier. In the pouring rain the atmosphere became so bad that non-playing members of the squad watched the second half on television.

Barry said that the 3-0 victory had been a "strange experience". "There was obviously a lot of pressure on the team at that moment," he said. "Sitting on the bench and, I can't remember exactly how long it was, but there were boos quite early in the game. That's the expectation of England and the fans. So many travelled over that day, and they were expecting us to get out off the blocks straight away. But that's football. The players who were there will have learnt from that experience. It was hostile."

As relaxation the England players were given yesterday afternoon off for a game of golf which was regarded by the squad as another small concession by Fabio Capello in the iron regime of the England manager. Previously, the players would be allowed to play the course at the Grove hotel near Watford. This time Capello had to be convinced it was a worthwhile use of their time and would not affect the rest he is so insistent they have in their hotel between training sessions. Regarding the players having a wider choice for their pre-match meal – they had previously been told they could eat pasta only once a day – there are signs Capello is making a few allowances for the normal habits of English footballers. However, there continues to be a much stricter routine around the hotel with players told to keep to their rooms instead of the usual social areas and games rooms common under Sven Goran Eriksson especially.

"Every manager has different ways of going about things and Mr Capello is no different," Barry said. "His discipline has been well-documented, but he wants us to train very hard like we play the games. He tries to get his points across in training so we can put them into practice in games. That's always good."

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