ROONEY’S RUSSIA SWANSONG
Captain says he’ll go in 2018 and admits ignoring Roy’s plans
BEFORE Wayne Rooney could look forward to his eighth international qualifying campaign — and what he says will be his last major tournament should England get there — certain issues needed to be addressed.
Iceland is the hangover Sam Allardyce needs to cure before Sunday’s World Cup Group F clash in Slovakia, but Rooney remains best qualified to discuss the worst defeat in the history of the national team.
That defeat by Iceland is one that Roy Hodgson, Allardyce’s predecessor as manager, said could have a devastating impact on England’s players.
Rooney did not appear terribly traumatised at St George’s Park yesterday, his desire to continue as captain a measure of that.
But he was brutal in his assessment of England’s mistakes in Nice, and brutally honest about one of the defining moments of the Euro 2016 tournament — the decision to make centre forward Harry Kane take the corners.
Despite publicly backing Hodgson’s ploy, privately the players were baffled — a feeling Sportsmail highlighted at the time.
In the second group game against Wales, captain Rooney decided enough was enough and took it upon himself to take the corners and thrust Kane back into the penalty box — a move that seemed to take Hodgson by surprise.
‘I felt that he was the top goalscorer in the Premier League,’ said Rooney. ‘He’s a big lad in the box.
‘It was Roy’s decision but after the first game I don’t think Harry wanted to take the cornersrs so I went and took them. I feltlt I probably should have takenen them anyway.
‘He’s probably better in the air than me and had been scoring a lot of goals.’
His admission that he had over-ruled Hodgson provided a fascinatingg insight into the dynamicc between the boss and his squad.
Like most observers, Rooney saw no sense in having the Premier League’s most prolific striker outside the box. ‘ Players have the right to make decisions on the pitch,’ he said. ‘Nothing was ever made of it. I don’t think Roy had an issue with that.’
At the time, Hodgson clearly did have an issue, and if nothing was said after the game then that is also fascinating.
It might also help explain what Rooney, on reflection, saw as the major problem during the Iceland game — a lack of concentration and of discipline. But he stopped short of saying England suffered from overconfidence in that second- round contest in France.
‘If I knew exactly why we lost then that wouldn’t have happened,’ he said, ‘but I think there was a big lack of concentration in the game.
‘We knew it would be a difficult game. We actually worked on trying to get an early goal because we knew they would get belief the longer it went on without us scoring.
‘Then we actually got the goal and maybe getting the goal that early made us feel we could maybe go on and win 2-0 or 3-0.
‘To then concede and then go behind so quickly after that left us with a difficult task but I felt we chased the game too soon and lost our shape too easily. I felt if we’d stuck to what we were doing and worn them down the goal might have come.
‘But I felt we lost our shape and our discipline in the team and didn’t give ourselves as good a chance as we could have done.’
Rooney will be 31 in October but his appetite for international football remains strong, even if he does now see Russia in 2018 as his ‘last opportunity’ to succeed on the international stage.
‘I had made my mind up before I went to the Euros that I was going to continue whether the Euros went well or not,’ he said. ‘I didn’t leave myself in a position where I was making a decision on the back of what had happened in France.
‘I still feel capable of doing a good job for England. The World Cup is obviously important, a huge moment in anyone’s life, and I’ll try and give it one last go.’
Rooney explained that he had chosen yesterday to announce his intention to call time on his international career less than two years from now ‘ so hopefully youse will all stop asking me’. AskedA what he made of AAlan Shearer suggesting tthat he should have folllowed the former Newccastle and England centre forward in retiring from international football at 30, Rooney’s response was ddiplomatic. ‘PeopleP are entitled to their opinopinions,’ he said. ‘I understandstand that. Alan retired at 30 so heh believesbli in playing that long for his country. I feel I’ve still got something to offer this team and the manager feels that as well.
‘Going into the World Cup, hopefully we qualify, the time will be right. It will be my 15th season playing for England and in anyone’s terms it’s a long time, so I just felt the time would be right.
‘I’ve seen players retired, get two or three days off during the week — that’s not really that appealing to me.
‘I love playing for my country, I feel I can still do it. I know if I stopped playing now, during this week, I’d be regretting it.’
The appointment of Allardyce, his fifth permanent England manager, also keeps things fresh.
Rooney said he was happy enough being restored to a more attacking position under Jose Mourinho at United and open to whatever Allardyce now has in mind for him.
‘I’ll have a better idea by the end of the week,’ Rooney said, his deployment in a more advanced role in yesterday’s training session providing the first indication of what Allardyce has in mind. He might yet take the corners, too.