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.
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England coach Allardyce hands captain’s armband to no. 1 striker.
‘When Sam got the job I made that clear to him and here we are. Rooney said: ‘Russia will be my last opportunity to do anything with England.
Rooney will don the armband under Allardyce for the first time on Sunday when England launch their attempt to reach the next World Cup in Russian Federation with a game against Slovakia in Trnava.
Wayne Rooney has revealed he is likely to walk away from global football after England’s World Cup 2018 campaign.
“Wayne’s record speaks for itself”.
Rooney was appointed captain by Allardyce’s predecessor, Roy Hodgson, in August 2014 after previous skipper Steven Gerrard retired from worldwide football following the World Cup in Brazil.
Rooney has played 115 times for England, putting him level with David Beckham as the country’s most-capped outfield player.
Former goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who made 125 worldwide appearances, is England’s most capped player overall.
“Wayne has been an excellent captain for England and the manner in which he has fulfilled the role made it an easy decision for me to ask him to continue”, Allardyce said.
On and off the field he was the captain you looked for.
“I think it is still two years away but I started playing football professionally when I was 16, worldwide football when I was 17 so 15 years of global football is a lot of years and in my eyes I think that would be the right time to finish”. You could see what happened to Newcastle after he left there.
“He reiterated I would continue as captain”. Playing in top-tier leagues in Europe, 35 is an age most don’t reach playing, so 32 sounds like a good age to stop playing internationally while still likely playing club soccer.
Allardyce named Nigerian trickster Jay Jay Okocha, his former lieutenant at Bolton Wanderers, as the best captain he has worked with. Unusual 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.
Although Rooney was deployed in midfield by former manager Roy Hodgson during Euro 2016, Allardyce has indicated he intends to use him in a number 10 role.
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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. I’m a player who’s going to get it and I’m going to run at the full-back, ” he said. “Ross is a hard one because he has been playing quite well since the start of the season and the change of position for Wayne made it a little hard to pick Ross”, Allardyce said.
