I’D LOVE TO BOSS LIONS
Roo to call it quits after Russia
WAYNE ROONEY wants to boss England once he hangs up his international boots after the 2018 World Cup.
England’s record scorer revealed he aims to lead the Three Lions after he retires from the game.
The Manchester United and England skipper, 30, is currently taking his coaching badges in a bid to become a boss.
Rooney yesterday dropped the bombshell news he will call time on his international career after the next major tournament.
He said: “Come Russia I feel that will be the time to say goodbye to international football. My mind is made up. It’s still two
WAYNE ROONEY would like nothing more than to say ‘Moscow now’ after leading England to glory at the Luzhniki Stadium on July 15, 2018.
Captaining England to a first World Cup victory in 52 years would be the ultimate send-off for the Three Lions legend.
By then – barring a disaster – Rooney, at 32, will be England’s most-capped player by a distance.
On Sunday, in the opening World Cup qualifier for Russia in Slovakia, the Manchester United ace will become England’s second most-capped player on 116, just nine behind Peter Shilton.
Timing
He is already England’s all-time top goalscorer with 53, four ahead of fellow Old Trafford idol Sir Bobby Charlton.
Rooney’s honours with United include five titles but his greatest night in a red shirt came at the Luzhniki eight years ago when Sir Alex Ferguson’s team beat Chelsea in a penalty shoot-out to win the Champions League.
“We won the Champions League there, so it’s still probably the highlight of my career, in terms of club football,” he said yesterday after confirming the timing of his international retirement. “It would be
® nice to do it again with England. But wherever the tournament, not because it’s Moscow, I was going to give it one last chance, one last go.”
Rooney has led the Three Lions for two years, but since making his debut at 17 he has seen England fail to go past the quarterfinals in six major tournaments – three World Cups and three Euros.
Yesterday, at the FA’s St George’s Park base, he was in reflective mood about the latest flop – the dismal 2-1 defeat by Iceland in the first knockout game at Euro 2016.
The performance was so shocking you might have expected Rooney to quit England straight afterwards.
“To be honest, I had made my mind up before I went to the Euros what I was going to do whether they went well or not,” he added. “I made my mind up that I was going to continue to play for England so I didn’t leave myself in a position where I was making a decision on the back of what had happened.”
Like the rest of the nation, Rooney remains mystified why such a talented bunch of players performed so badly in St Etienne.
“If I knew exactly why, then it wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “We would have done something to stop it happening. So I can’t sit here and say we didn’t win this game because of this and this.
“I think there was a big lack of concentration in the game and also a lack of shape in our game.
“You can say Iceland are ranked wherever they are in world football but at that level, if you lose concentration, you will get punished and that is what happened.”
New England boss Sam Allardyce has talked of a mental fragility.
“It could be, yes,” said Rooney. “On the outside they might be confident and then on the inside you never know how they’re feeling, whether they’re feeling a lot of pressure or what.
“You can only go by what they’re telling you. But the lads seemed fine. It was just a game where I can’t really put my finger on what happened.”
Rooney and his fellow England stars have clearly been stung by the fierce criticism after France.
A few are also deeply upset by the way Wales players – including Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies, of Tottenham – revelled publicly in their embarrassment.
Failure
“Some of the lads have club team-mates playing for Wales and to see them jumping around to celebrate their team-mates’ failure was a bit disappointing,” he added.
He also disclosed he had taken it on himself to relieve Spurs’ Harry Kane of corner duties in England’s 2-1 win over Wales, despite boss Roy Hodgson assigning the job to the striker.
Rooney said: “I felt at the time that he was the top goalscorer in the Premier League. He’s a big lad in the box.
“After the first game I don’t think Harry wanted to take the corners so I went and took them. I felt I probably should have taken them anyway.
“He’s probably better in the air than me. I think players have the right to make decisions on the pitch.”