Article: De la Cruz has his uses as he gives hometown running water

ULISES de la Cruz has spent this week plotting how to stop Wayne Rooney as the Ecuador wing-back prepares for the biggest game of his life against England in Stuttgart tomorrow.

The 32-year-old, still on the books but facing an uncertain future at Aston Villa, even suggested tongue-in-cheek that he might give the English talisman's "foot a kick to test it out".

De la Cruz will hope that he does not have to resort to such extreme measures to halt Rooney in the last-16 clash, and is confident his experience in the English Premiership will stand him in good stead against some familiar faces.

The stocky Ecuadorean has played in Britain for the past five years, since Alex McLeish made him ...

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