A day after Sam Allardyce confirmed that Wayne Rooney would retain the England captaincy, the striker announced that the 2018 World Cup in Russian Federation would be his final tournament as an worldwide footballer.
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Wayne Rooney today announced his intention to retire from global football after the 2018 World Cup in Russian Federation.
Having already become England’s all-time leading goalscorer, Rooney is set to pick up his 116th cap in Sunday’s World Cup qualifier in Slovakia to move clear as the most-capped outfield player for his country. “Russian Federation will be my last tournament”, he told a press conference at St George’s Park in Burton, central England, yesterday.
“I’m not old, but come Russian Federation I feel it will be time for me to say goodbye to global football”.
‘I feel I’ve got a lot of experience behind me and when I do finish playing I would like to stay in the game at some level.
England boss Sam Allardyce has said it was an “easy decision” to stick with Wayne Rooney as his captain. Raheem Sterling has been a lively presence in the start which Manchester City have made to the season, Adam Lallana has been playing constructive football for Liverpool, and Dele Alli – whose form shaded badly just at the wrong time for England last season – will be back.
“My mind is made up …” The England captain, who has come under fire for substandard performances over the last few years, said that he’s going to give it his all through the tournament in Russian Federation, but that after that, he’ll walk away from the Three Lions.
The 30-year-old striker, who also captains Manchester United, has been England’s skipper for the past two years. The player has played 115 matches for England, scoring 53 goals.
While he admits his style is not quite in line with the refined, academy honed talents of his new global team-mates, many critics of England’s diabolical Euro 2016 campaign feel Antonio’s experience of footballing hardship before success is just what the national team needs under Sam Allardyce.
Now we’ll see if Rooney gets to make it through the 2018 World Cup.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Antonio said: “I’m settling in quite well, it is just nerve-wracking a little bit because I didn’t expect this so early in my Premier League career”.
“The camp has been good, we have only had one session, but we are all excited about what ideas he can bring to us”. We have bad memories from the last game (against Iceland), obviously.
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“It benefits us if players coming here would be very disappointed at not being in the squad, like Ross Barkley, and the players that aren’t picked in the 11 are then disappointed, and say “come on gaffer I deserve a place” – that’s healthy for England”.
