“He is the most senior member of the squad and he is hugely respected by his peers”, Allardyce said.
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The consensus that Rooney has failed to spark England in a major tournament since his first as an 18-year-old at Euro 2004 remains firmly entrenched – of his seven World Cup and European Championship goals four came in Portugal – and there was a groundswell of public opinion that Allardyce should ring the changes in the first squad of his reign.
England skipper Wayne Rooney on 30 August announced that he will retire from worldwide football after the 2018 World Cup scheduled to be held in Russian Federation.
“I’m not old, I’m 30, and come Russian Federation that’ll be the time for me to say goodbye to worldwide football”.
“I have had a fantastic worldwide career, played a lot of games and I’ve enjoyed every minute but at some point it has got to come to an end”. I’ve had a fantastic global career so far.
The 1966 world champions suffered an embarrassing exit at the hands of Iceland in the round of 16 in Euro 2016.
“Obviously it’s the manager’s decision”, said Rooney. But if we’ve learned anything about Rooney, it’s that he will never be out-worked and for at least two more years, Rooney is going to give it all he’s got to put a bow on his England career.
England manager Sam Allardyce says Austin Okocha is the best captain he has ever had.
Under new United boss Jose Mourinho this season, he has played behind the striker – which is where Allardyce has told the media Rooney will play for England. “I’m ready to play whether it’s midfield, number 10 or striker”. “We haven’t really spoken about it”.
But the Three Lions skipper won’t hang up his boots before competing in what will be his fourth World Cup – should he be selected.
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11 & 2 – Having been famously sent off against Portugal in the 2006 World Cup and again in a Euro 2012 qualifier in Montenegro, Rooney also has 11 yellow cards in his worldwide career. The ability and talent is there. He added, “He’ll want to find out why we keep tripping up”. We’ve seen a lot of teams overachieve with him as manager. That’s down to the way he’s got them playing. “Hopefully he can do the same with us”.
