England Captain Wayne Rooney secured his place in the history books with a penalty at Wembley Stadium against Switzerland on Tuesday. The 29 year old surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 49 goals for country and became the leading English goal scorer of all time. Rooney came into the limelight after scoring four goals during the group stages at Euro 2004 as a 18 year old, since then he has been England’s leading goal scorer in consecutive World Cup qualifying campaigns.
Although some pundits do argue that his achievements don’t match up to those of his predecessor and to truly become one of England’s greatest he needs to achieve success in a major tournament. One argument which is used to compare the greatness of Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona is the fact that the latter has won a World Cup during his career, an achievement which still eludes the greatness of Messi. Similarly, Bobby Charlton gave England its only World Cup victory in 1966 on home soil, while Rooney only broke his World Cup duck at the 2014 World Cup.
As the importance of International football continues to wane, there is no doubt winning a World Cup is still the most important goal of any footballer’s career. One thing though which stands out between Ronney and Charlton is the fact that Charlton was part of the world class “golden generation” of English players surrounded by players like Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore and the World Cup final hero Sir Geoff Hurst. Rooney on the other hand has struggled to find similar company while playing for England. His best chance to achieve success at a World Cup came during the 2006 tournament in Germany, where he played alongside the likes of Gerrard, Lampard and Beckham, unfortunately for him, he wasn’t match-fit.
Eriksson’s gamble of taking him to Germany failed and in the quarter-finals, Rooney, overwhelmed by disappointment, got sent off for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho of Portugal, following which England went out on penalties.
The fact that Charlton scored most of his 49 goals initially from a wide position then as a deeper-lying playmaker makes his achievement more creditable. It is also argued that many of Rooney’s goals came against unfancied opponents, for instance five goals against San Marino and three against Kazakhstan but he can hardly be blamed for the opposition presented to him. Twenty eight of his goals have come against countries that did not actually exist when Charlton played, although he did play more friendlies than Rooney – 49 as opposed to 41 – and also had his share of what could be called “soft-touch” goals such as a hat-trick against the USA in May 1959.
Rooney’s achievements cannot be downplayed, he rightly deserves his place in the record books. From Sven-Goran Eriksson to Roy Hodgson, every England manager has wanted Rooney in his team, this fact alone proves the importance he has in the England set up. In the last decade he has been the one English player that opponents have feared the most. The lack of impact at a major tournament might leave him short of the coveted status of a true England great but the fact is Rooney is the finest England player of his generation.