Rooney thrilled by fearless ones
Wayne Rooney will make his farewell as England’s greatest ever goalscorer in a friendly against the United States on Thursday, but is excited about what a young squad can achieve under “fearless” coach Gareth Southgate.
Rooney, 33, made the last of his 119 international appearances midway through England’s World Cup qualifying campaign two years ago.
In contrast to his prime, when a “golden generation” disappointed at major tournaments and never made it beyond the quarterfinals, Southgate’s charges surpassed expectations by making it to the semifinals of a World Cup for the first time in 28 years in Russia.
“Fearless,” Rooney said, when asked what set Southgate apart from the other five England managers he played under.
“A lot of the other managers didn’t really give the youth the opportunity to express themselves, come into the team and have an impact.” Rooney insisted he had no regrets on retiring from international football a year before the World Cup, but admitted even he was surprised at how quickly Southgate’s squad matured into contenders to be world champions.
“Over two years ago I saw the talent we had with the young players,” he said.
“I believed those players, maybe not in the Russia World Cup but the one after that, would be good enough to have a go at it.
“They proved me wrong by doing so well this year.”
England carried on the momentum from their World Cup campaign by inflicting Spain’s first competitive defeat on home soil for 15 years in a thrilling 3-2 victory in Seville last month.
Should Luis Enrique’s men fail to bounce back with victory in Croatia on Thursday, England will have the chance to progress to the inaugural Nations League semifinals by beating the Croats at Wembley on Sunday.
However, the long-term target remains success at Euro 2020, with the extra incentive of the semifinals and final to be played at Wembley.
“Myself along with all you guys [media] are of the opinion the squad is growing, getting better,” Rooney said.
“I’m excited to see them in the next tournament.”
While the former Everton and Manchester United striker brings down the curtain on his England career, Southgate has the chance to test some of those at the end other end of their international career against the States.
Jadon Sancho, 18, is in line for his first start after starring in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 win over Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Rooney burst onto the international scene as an 18-year-old at Euro 2004, but admitted he did not always enjoy his England career after that, given the burden of expectation to perform.