The Manchester United attacker said reaching the landmark will be a “huge honor”, but stressed he is still focused on trying to win with England after confirming he will retire from global football following the 2018 World Cup.
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“I’m not old, I’m 30 years of age, and come Russian Federation I feel that will be the time for me to say goodbye to worldwide football”.
Rooney concluded by saying, “My mind is made up … 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. I’ve spent my whole life playing football and I think it would be a shame to walk away form it completely. I’d be 34 by the next tournament. “I’ve seen players retire [from worldwide football] and get two or three days off but that doesn’t appeal to me”.
“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”.
Rooney will make his 116th England appearance in Trnava, taking him past David Beckham as the country’s most capped outfield player.
“Hopefully I can end my time with England on a high”, Rooney said. If there is an in-built presumption there then it is perhaps a fair one considering England haven’t lost a qualifying match since 2009.
Rooney, who tipped Everton’s Ross Barkley to battle his way back into the England reckoning, also backed Allardyce’s decision to hand a first worldwide call to West Ham’s Michail Antonio.
Newly-appointed England manager Sam Allardyce is keen to the leave the door open for foreign born players to enter the national team set-up and has told the British media he would have no problem picking a player who qualified only through residency. You can’t just forget it (Euro 2016) but it’s a new era for us. “Russian Federation will be my last tournament”.
The Red Devils forward confirmed his decision to stop playing for England in a press conference yesterday as the squad turned up for their first training session under new Three Lions boss Sam Allardyce.
He said: ‘Joe has been in a hard situation and knowing him like I do he wants to play and so he has gone somewhere where he can do that. “It’s not happening [with N’Zonzi] but we can cover this a bit more if I find another player”.
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“We have seen a lot of teams overachieve with him as manager”. Odd that there has rarely been an England player who has shared such similarities with the fans who follow the team, and yet provoked in them such strong feelings of blame and gratitude. Many of Allardyce’s predecessors have claimed they would if necessary and never done so.
