ONE LEGEND , THREE NEW LIONS As Rooney bows out, he will present shirts to England debutants at Wembley tonight
UNOFFICIALLY, the changing of the England guard happened two years ago when Gareth Southgate decided he did not need Wayne Rooney.
Officially, it will be confirmed in a poignant ceremony ahead of a match given over to celebrating the international career of the country’s record goalscorer. If you are one of those who believe a handshake and a mention in the programme would have been sufficient reflection on Rooney’s 119-game England career, look away tonight.
Guard of honour, his boys as mascots, a presentation from the FA chairman, the No.10 shirt, the captain’s armband, the FA have only just stopped short of renaming Wembley for the night. But one of the most significant moments will take place away from the public gaze, deep in the bowels of the stadium ahead of the meeting with the USA.
In the England dressing-room, Rooney will hand the debutants – Callum Wilson, Lewis Dunk and Alex McCarthy – their England jerseys and address them on their special day. Southgate said: “We will have some debuts and he’s going to present the shirts. I’ve asked him to talk to the guys about a couple of areas in particular. We’ve done that for the last 18 months. Glenn Hoddle did Michael Keane. Ian Wright did Ruben (Loftus-Cheek) and Tammy (Abrahams).
“Paul Parker came in, Lee Dixon did Trippier, one Burnley full-back to another. It’s a big moment in a player’s life. It’s the crest on the front that’s the important thing, not the name on the back.”
Maybe it is because Southgate knows he was one of the drivers of Rooney’s international retirement that he has bought into this occasion so enthusiastically.
The tributes on the eve of the Wayne Rooney Foundation match could not have been more fulsome, Southgate bracketing him with Paul Gascoigne and Paul
Scholes as one of the greats of the modern era.
Recounting his own experiences on the field with England, Southgate said: “There have been brilliant players I played with. It doesn’t seem right to leave the Lampards, the Beckhams, the Sheringhams and the Shearers out of the list.
“But for me, Gascoigne, Scholes and Rooney were just able to do that little bit more than all of the others. “They were incredible. I played with Wayne at the beginning for him really, so for him to go on and overtake Sir Bobby Charlton’s record is incredible. It’s the different types of finishes and the different types of goals that stand out.”
But what Southgate (below) admired most was how Rooney coped with being the main man for so long.
He said: “The hardest thing in football is to cross the white line and it’s incredibly hard when you’re the person who is expected to deliver.
“Very few people in the world can appreciate what that feels like. It’s very different to run-ofthe-mill players like me who played for England.
“He was in the England team, front and centre of it, from 17. It is incredible to live your life and grow up in that spotlight and be able to cope with it and excel within it.
“For him, the biggest thing is the team didn’t quite get to where he wanted.
“But when you look at what he’s lived through and the performances he gave, the big goals he scored, the moments he had to deliver and the pressure he had to take, individually it is an incredible career.”
And if the young players listening to Rooney in that dressing-room come close to having the sort of career being celebrated this evening, then the future of the England team is, indeed, bright.