France faces the United States or Croatia in the semifinals

Wayne Rooney will remain as England captain but his midfield experiment with the national team is over, with the Manchester United veteran set to revert to playing as a deep-lying forward under new coach Sam Allardyce.Wayne has been an excellent captain for England and the manner in which he has fulfilled the role made it an easy decision for me to ask him to continue, Allardyce said Monday, having taken his time to settle on who should have the armband after being hired in July.Rooney received the symbolically prestigious honor of captaining England on a permanent basis in 2014, taking over the role from Steven Gerrard. Rooney has played 115 times for England, putting him level with David Beckham as the countrys most-capped outfield player.England plays Slovakia in its opening World Cup qualifier on Sunday, for what will be Allardyces first game in charge.Waynes record speaks for itself. He is the most senior member of the squad and he is hugely respected by his peers, Allardyce said. All of these factors point towards him being the right choice to lead the team.Rooney finished last season playing as a central midfielder for United under Louis van Gaal, and played there for England during its European Championship campaign that ended with an embarrassing last-16 loss to Iceland.New United manager Jose Mourinho has returned Rooney to the No. 10 role behind the striker, and Allardyce also thinks thats his best position.Waynes position has changed at Manchester United, Allardyce said, and thats the sort of position Id be looking for him to be playing in.The player most affected by that positional tweak is Ross Barkley, who was dropped on Sunday by Allardyce in his first squad announcement since replacing Roy Hodgson as England coach. Barkley plays in the same position as United captain Rooney at Everton, and has started the season in good form for his club with two goals in four games.With Dele Alli included in Englands squad, it appears there was no room for another attacking playmaker.We have had to make some very difficult decisions, none more so than obviously I would think Ross Barkley, Allardyce said. But you have to make these decisions. The door will always be open for Ross, but at this moment I felt the squad I picked is the right one.Looking to put his own stamp on the national team, Allardyce has recalled winger Theo Walcott and also picked an uncapped wide player in Michail Antonio of West Ham. It would suggest Allardyce is looking to play with more width than England did under Hodgson.Antonios rise to the national team is being compared to that of Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, in that he started out in non-league football -- with Tooting and Mitcham, a club in south London -- rather than in an academy of a big club.He had spells on loan at lowly clubs before joining Sheffield Wednesday and then Nottingham Forest. Antonio moved to West Ham last year and has impressed as a right-sided midfielder, especially in the air. He has scored eight headed goals since the start of last season -- including one in each of his last two league games.His journey is something that deserves to be in this squad and me to have a look at as a potential player going forward, Allardyce said. Its a bit similar to Jamie Vardy -- it shows if you have got guts and determination and desire, how much it means.He goes forward, creates a career for himself and finally ends up in the Premier League and with us in this squad. Im looking forward to meeting him.Marcus Rashford wasnt included by Allardyce, despite going on as a substitute to score Uniteds injury-time winner against Hull in the Premier League on Saturday in his first appearance of the season. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has displaced 18-year-old Rashford up front at United.Rashford will instead play for England under-21s this week to get some game time.Having international experience with the under-21s will be invaluable for us later down the line, Allardyce said. If he plays for Manchester United on a regular basis, he would certainly -- if he is breaking into the Manchester United team -- be in my squad.He made a massive impact last season, yes, but hes only a young man, lets not heap too much pressure on him just yet. 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TRINEC, Czech Republic -- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame an early scare to win the opening reverse singles Sunday to give France a 3-1 victory over the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.Amid increased security following the deadly attack in the French city of Nice, Tsonga rallied to beat Jiri Vesely 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-5 and earn a spot in the Davis Cup semifinals for France for the second time in three years.Tsonga said it was a team effort.This weekend we won with the group, he said. They played really well in the doubles and gave me the opportunity to finish, so today is the win of the group.France faces the United States or Croatia in the semifinals in September. Ahead of the reverse singles, the Americans lead 2-1.The 10th-ranked Frenchman hit a big passing forehand to gain two break points in the 11th game of the fourth set and closed out the best-of-five series on his first match point on the indoor hard court in the eastern Czech city of Trinec.The final singles was not played.France has nine Davis Cup titles, but it last won in 2001. The French have played three finals since, most recently in 2014 when they lost to Switzerland after knocking out the Czechs in the semis.Since the start of the match everything was going wrong for me, Tsonga said.ddddddddddddSo many break points, so many balls to make it and I didnt. So, at the end I said `you fight all along for the match and you deserve to win so you will make it. Finally the match turned but it was hard.Tsonga double faulted to give Vesely a break point in the fifth game of the opening set and the 50th-ranked Czech converted it. Tsonga wasted his two break points in the eighth game and hit the net on Veselys second set point.Tsonga earned a set point at 5-4 in the second set with a backhand volley but wasted it before prevailing in the tiebreaker when Vesely served two straight double faults.Vesely dropped his serve for the first time to trail 3-4 in the third set with Tsonga serving it out with one of his 45 winners.His forehand is lethal, Vesely said. Its a huge weapon.Wimbledon doubles champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert fought past Lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday to give France a 2-1 lead.On Friday, Rosol beat Tsonga in a five-setter, and Lucas Pouille made a victorious Davis Cup debut by beating Vesely in straight sets. ' ' '