Wayne Rooney to equal Bobby Charlton's record, but does not
believe England have got the best out of him.
The Manchester United striker moved level on 49 goals with
Charlton after scoring the opener in England's 6-0 win over
San Marino on Saturday.
The 29-year-old will now be looking to surpass the record
against Switzerland at Wembley on Tuesday and become only
the 44th player to score 50 international goals.
While Daily Mirror journalist Lewis was full of praise for
Rooney's achievements, he also told the Sunday Supplement
that England haven't got the best out of him.
"Sir Alex (Ferguson) got the best out of him, with five titles and
one European Cup," said Lewis. "But if England had achieved
more, Rooney would have achieved more, he has been very
unfortunate in that regard.
"A lot of people would like Rooney to inspire England in the
same way he inspires Manchester United before they put him
on a par with Sir Bobby.
"(But) he can do no more than score the goals he has and to
score 49 goals for your country in any context is an
outstanding achievement."
After making his debut for England as a 17-year-old in 2003,
Rooney has gone on to win 106 caps and was named captain
after the 2014 World Cup.
But The Sun's Martin Lipton questioned whether he will be
viewed as an 'under-achiever' on the international stage due to
England's failures at major tournament
 |
| England boss Roy Hodgson said the victory over San Marino was all about remaining professional |
whether he wins a trophy," he said. "I think he has proven"The reality is his achievements will always be judged on
himself to be an outstanding England player. He may not have
been the player we thought he was going to be in 2004 but he
has adapted, changed himself, delivered time and again and
his record over the last few years is exceptional for England.
"However, until he is part of a successful England team he will
forever be seen as an under achiever, just by the nature of
football.
"He has been a brilliant England player and if the rest of the
team around him hasn't been as good as the team around
Charlton and (Gary) Lineker, that's not his fault. He can only
play with the team he is in, he has been an outstanding
England player."
Lipton also praised Rooney's goalscoring record, saying: "It's
easy to say Rooney scored all these soft goals, but Charlton,
great player he was, scored 15 against the Home Nations and
five against Luxembourg.
"In every era you have teams you play a lot and score against.
Rooney has scored more tournament goals than anyone other
than Lineker."
0 comments:
Post a Comment