In Rooney farewell, England beats U.S.

Wayne Rooney’s recordbreaking England soccer career ended with suspense, but without a goal Thursday night.

It was a memorable night anyway at Wembley Stadium in London, as England’s most capped non-goalkeeper, recalled after two years off the team, returned to have a ceremonial farewell, 15 years after his debut, in a 3-0 win over the United States before 68,155 fans.

Whenever the striker touched the ball after entering in the 58th minute, however far from goal in a 120th appearance, fans shouted, “Shoot!” The best chance came in the second minute of stoppage time. Primed in the penalty area, Rooney turned to shoot, only to be denied by U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan’s low save.

There was a wry smile from Rooney, whose England career ended with 53 goals.

“Another yard it would have been in ... and it would have been great,” Rooney said.

Rooney, now with D.C. United of MLS, was a Premier League and Champions League title-winner with Manchester United. He thrilled so often in an England jersey but couldn’t inspire the country to a first title since 1966.

Callum Wilson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jesse Lingard scored for England.

In UEFA Nations League play, Tin Jedvaj scored his second goal three minutes into stoppage time to earn Croatia a 3-2 victory over Spain and a first win in a competitive match since defeating England in the World Cup semifinals.

Spain remained on top of League A, Group 4 with six points. England and Croatia have four points before they meet at Wembley Stadium on Sunday in the last match. A win by either side qualifies it for the Final Four in June, along with the other three group winners.

Elsewhere, Belgium beat Iceland 2-0 to stay on course to reach the finals. In the lower leagues, Bosnia and Herzegovina earned promotion to League A, and Finland earned promotion to League B.

In other friendlies, Germany routed Russia 3-0, the Czech Republic edged Poland 1-0, and Ireland drew 0-0 with Northern Ireland.