Rooney: I will treasure this game for the rest of my life

 

Rooney watch

LEADERSHIP

YOU do not need to be Winston Churchill to lead a team into the fray against San Marino.

The biggest threat is to your personal safety from a stray boot as one of the part-timers struggles to keep pace with the game.

Roo chose to lead by example with a succession of attempts at goal before finally hitting the target in the 35th minute from the penalty spot.

TEMPERAMENT

THE Manchester United bulldog’s reputation leaves you on edge that he could explode at any moment.

However, it was England boss Roy Hodgson who was most angry — frothing over the early challenge on Theo Walcott which forced him off.

Freakishly, Roo even held up his hands in a ‘surrender’ gesture to stay out of trouble in one 50-50 challenge on the keeper — steady on Wazza!

PERFORMANCE

SWEAT was dripping from his nose as he smashed home England’s opener.

It was a symbol of how hard he had worked for his side.

Roo was aware of time ticking away and had missed a couple of chances before he buried a right-foot thunderbolt from the spot.

His second was smart, clinical and celebrated with dignity. Got a standing ovation when substituted.

GOOD SKIPPER?

CAPTAIN WAZ... has a nice ring to it but it is impossible to tell if he passed the test.

Calling the match against San Marino a competitive fixture is stretching a point.

Still, it has not done Roo’s CV any harm — even if England dish out more armbands than a toddlers’ swimming lesson with a high turnover of captains in recent years.

WAYNE ROONEY will never forget leading England out at Wembley last night.

The fact it was against the world’s worst team, in a game England dare not even draw, against the part-timers of San Marino was irrelevant.
Roo, 26, was handed the captain’s armband for the first time in a competitive match.
And it is a job the Manchester United striker wants to do again — even though he insists the whole squad is right behind first choice skipper Steven Gerrard on the road to Rio.
While the prestigious role of most senior player has been tossed around in recent seasons it has still left a huge imprint on Rooney — far more than the penalty which set England on the way to victory last night or the beautifully crafted second goal in the second half.
He said: “It was great to captain my country at Wembley. It is a great feeling and a great honour and something I will treasure for the rest of my life. It was a big difference leading a side out. Normally I have been stood behind a player but to lead the team up and look up and see the crowd and hear the atmosphere is quite a feeling and something I am honoured to do.
“Of course, it gives you a taste for it further along in my career. As a player, you want to do it. If you get an opportunity to captain your country, as a player it is something you need to grab with both hands.
“It is a great feeling to have captained my country and it is something that in the future hopefully I will be able to do full time.
“Steven is the captain at the moment and he is a great leader for us. But in the future, hopefully the captaincy will happen. For the moment, Steven is our captain and he will continue to lead by example for us.
“But it is a great honour. I have kept the armband and will keep it forever.” Rooney was not so lucky with his shirt — or shorts — as the part-timers from San Marino clamoured for a piece of England’s most famous footballer after his big night as top man.
Rooney insists the role of captain did not change his game plan as a player — but he was aware of the expectations placed on his broad shoulders by a trusting boss Roy Hodgson, who could have played safe and given the job to keeper Joe Hart.
The Old Trafford ace added: “You understand you have got a big responsibility, but I feel I have tried to do what I do week in, week out — play to my best, motivate myself and motivate my team-mates.
“It is something I have been doing for the whole of my career, I think. The manager gives the team-talk. But I think us as players, in particular tonight myself, Joe and Phil Jagielka, were probably the three leading players in the team.