“I know Russian Federation will be my last opportunity to do anything”, he said. “Russian Federation will be my last tournament”, Rooney said during a press conference at St George’s Park in Burton. From a hat-trick on his debut against Fenerbahce, the two men worked together fruitfully for nine years, with only the occasional contract wrangle getting between them. I started playing professional football when I was 16, and started playing internationals when I was 17. “So 15 years of worldwide football is a lot of years and, in my eyes, I think that would be the right time to finish”. “I’ve seen players retire [from global football] and get two or three days off but that doesn’t appeal to me”.
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“It’ll be a proud moment and every time I’ve played with England I’m proud to do so and it’s a huge honour”, Rooney said.
Rooney, 30, took over as captain from Steven Gerrard in 2014 and is on course to become England’s most-capped outfield player.
Wayne Rooney spoke to the press at a media briefing when he announced that he would be taking a bow after the 2018 World Cup. “Russian Federation will be my last opportunity to do anything with England so I’m going to try to enjoy these two years and hopefully I can end my time with England on a high”, he added. “Obviously it’s the manager’s decision”.
“If he gets the best out of our players, then he will do well”, he said.
‘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.
He wins his 116th cap for the opening World Cup qualifier in Slovakia.
“Wayne’s position has changed at Manchester United”, Allardyce said, “and that’s the sort of position I’d be looking for him to be playing in”. He added, “He’ll want to find out why we keep tripping up”. The fact Rooney generally excelled in a deeper midfield role, while other younger players appeared jaded and out of form, was largely irrelevant: no England stars managed to escape the Iceland embarrassment with their reputations enhanced.
A quick glance at the career paths of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes tells the story: Giggs retired in 2007 and went on to have seven excellent years at Old Trafford, whilst Scholes retired in 2004, paving the way for nine more prosperous years under Sir Alex Ferguson. He is amazed by the way everyone in the squad loves celebrating a winning moment, “It’s awesome when I look to my side and I see the people on the bench suffering with us and then jumping for the goal”.
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Antonio does not see himself as the emotional type but was nearly moved to tears when two members of West Ham’s backroom staff informed him he had made the cut for Allardyce’s first squad in the aftermath of his goalscoring turn in Sunday’s 3-1 loss at Manchester City.
