Wayne: England are going places
ROONEY: GREAT GROUP OF PLAYERS WITH BRIGHT FUTURE
Southgate’s team played with verve and style at Wembley.
London
Wayne Rooney believes the future is bright for England as a youthful Three Lions eased past the United States 3-0 at Wembley on his international swansong on Thursday.
Jesse Lingard, Trent Alexander-Arnold and debutant Callum Wilson grabbed the goals in a dominant England display despite Gareth Southgate fielding a very inexperienced side.
Should England avenge their heartbreaking World Cup semifinal defeat by Croatia tomorrow at Wembley, Southgate’s men can build on the progress made by surpassing expectations in Russia this summer by qualifying for the semifinals of the inaugural Nations League.
“It’s my opinion that England are in very safe hands from what I’ve seen this week,” said Rooney.
“The way they are being coached is brilliant, it’s a great group of young players who have a bright future.
“They will go close to being the next team to bring a trophy back for England.”
The decision to honour Rooney with a first cap for two years divided opinion.
However, the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for the introduction of England’s greatest ever goalscorer just before the hour mark on his 120th international appearance.
“It will live with me for a long time,” added Rooney.
England’s former captain was also honoured before kick-off with a guard of honour and the presentation of a plaque bearing a golden Three Lions badge by current skipper Harry Kane.
“I asked Harry Kane to present me with the award because I believe he will beat my goalscoring record and I look forward to presenting him with the trophy,” added Rooney.
As Rooney and Kane watched on from the bench for the first 45 minutes, Wilson was handed his chance to impress on his international debut, while exciting young prospect Jadon Sancho was given his first start and was on the pitch for the entire 90 minutes.
England quickly put the game to bed with two goals in as many minutes midway through the first half as firstly Lingard received Dele Alli’s pass before curling high into the far corner.
Sancho has quickly made a name for himself at Borussia Dortmund and the 18-year-old built on his fine Bundesliga form by teeing up Alexander-Arnold to drill his first international goal into the far corner.
Rooney got the chance to add to his 53 international goals and was handed the captain’s armband one last time when he came on after 58 minutes.
He didn’t get the fairytale ending he wanted as Brad Guzan made a fine save to the crowd’s dismay in stoppage time.
However, Wilson did get his goal to cap a dream debut for the Bournemouth striker, who has battled through the lower leagues and two cruciate ligament injuries in both knees to make it to the international stage.
Wilson got ahead of his marker to turn Fabian Delph’s cross in at the near post 13 minutes from time. –