Thanks Roo for the memories
NO FAIRY-TALE end, perhaps, but certainly closure. So long, Wazza, and thanks for all the goals.
A shot saved by Brad Guzan at full stretch in injury-time prevented Wayne Rooney from claiming No54 and he thumped the ground in dismay when he then failed to get to a sharp cross with what would have been the final kick of the match.
At least Rooney was able to walk away from England a Wembley winner, but perhaps it was fitting that it was the endeavours of the youngsters who have taken the nation’s football so far forward since he last played two years ago that earned him that right.
Until Rooney had come on just before the hour mark, there had been a strong sense at Wembley that all we were doing was working our way through the undercard.
There was a lack of star names in Gareth Southgate’s very experimental line-up, with Lewis Dunk and Callum Wilson making their debuts at either end of the pitch.
Still, the hope is always that you get treated to a decent contest. But as England’s youngsters ripped through an American team very much at the end of their season, it soon became clear Wembley would not even be granted that.
The one saving grace was that if this was little more than a one-sided exhibition football, at least the England players were trying to produce something worth exhibiting.
Jadon Sancho, continuing on from his impressive debut, got the crowd ooh-ing to a particularly sharp drag-back.
Even Fabian Delph, not one to have much truck with such fancy-dannery, produced an elaborate dragged backheel. All the time Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard were working neatly and effectively between each other to pick holes in the USA defence.
At the end of it all, though, Wilson first scuffed a good chance from the Manchester United player’s cross in the ninth minute and then went to ground somewhat theatrically when Lingard again sent him through.
England did not have to wait long, however, to settle the destiny of the match with two goals coming in the space of as many minutes.
Inevitably, Alli and Lingard were at the heart of it.
The former turned over possession high up the pitch before pulling the ball back for Lingard to curl a sublime effort into the far top corner.
And it was Sancho’s cute awareness that teed up Trent Alexander-Arnold for the second.
The 18-year-old casually flicked the ball to his full-back on the overlap and the Liverpool man drilled the ball past goalkeeper Guzan into the far corner.
Just before that, a bad mistake by Dunk had nearly allowed Christian Pulisic to open the scoring against the run of play.
But aside from blocking that shot, a single punch from Julian Green’s 36th-minute effort was as much action as England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford would see before the break – and then he was substituted. His replacement by the night’s third debutant Alex McCarthy was the only change at the break as the USA came out faster.
That said, Wilson missed another golden opportunity three minutes after the restart and then the main man began to get stripped for action.
He was introduced as one of a trio of substitutes to play off the Bournemouth striker and was immediately handed the captain’s armband. But for a long time the most
action Rooney saw was when a fan ran on to the pitch to pat him on the back before finally being escorted away by a steward.
Then in the 71st minute he cut back onto his left foot and Wembley held its breath as he pulled the trigger… only to unleash a tame shot straight into the arms of Guzan.
The vision was as good as ever, mind – a superb pass nearly put Ruben LoftusCheek in. There were cries of “Shoot!” every time Rooney touched the ball, but in the end it was the debutant Wilson, not the 120-cap man, who got England’s third.