Rooney made his 116th global appearance during Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia, passing David Beckham to become England’s most-capped outfield player.
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England produced the sort of performance in their opening 2018 World Cup qualifier against Slovakia that cost Roy Hodgson his job on the back of a Euro 2016 campaign that ended in an embarrassing shock defeat by Iceland.
Rooney added: “I’m playing on the pitch for England”.
The 30-year-old was given his record start against Slovakia by new manager Sam Allardyce, who opted to pair the United striker in attack with Tottenham’s Harry Kane.
England have not scored from a corner in a major tournament since World Cup 2010 and Kane says that although it was not a laughing matter at the time, it’s now something the players have had a joke about.
“He’s not to forget we want him to score goals” – but it was clear that special rules applied to England’s most capped outfield player.
He has since been taken off set pieces by new boss Sam Allardyce after Rooney admitted he defied Hodgson’s tactics following the first game of the tournament against Russian Federation by taking the corners instead of Kane.
He pushed up into a more orthodox number 10 role at half-time, only to retreat to a midfield holding role after Allardyce sent on Dele Alli for Henderson. He has had it at Manchester United, under many different managers, played down the right, the left, centre forward, in behind, centre midfield.
However, after over 13 years playing worldwide football, how much do you know about the 30-year-old’s Three Lions career?
“It was a good battle up there and we created some good chances, I had some half-chances that on another day could have sneaked in but overall I was happy with the way things went”. “I can’t stop Wayne playing there”, said the manager.
‘It’s what makes and breaks you as a player.
“But we have to be fearless and we have to get balls with quality forward and get players in good positions and hit them as quick as we can”.
“I want to get goals”.
“When we finished, he said: ‘Here’s a lucky coin for you.’ So I said: ‘Thank you very much.’ In the end we had a little bit of luck and we won, so it’ll stay with me”. Rooney registered England’s first shot on target in the 65th minute, a weak curler that Kozacik pushed away uncertainly, before Sterling nearly caught the Slovakia goalkeeper out with an improvised chip.
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“I thought he should have retired after the Euros”.
