With qualification seemingly secured after their win over Switzerland in the opening game of Euro 2016 qualifiers, it looked as though there was going to be precious little for the supporters to cheer about. After all, barring the disaster that was the Euro 2008 qualifiers, England have made relatively easy work of their qualification to major tournaments. Often winning just the right amount of games for there not be an inquiry into the side or to go into the tournament as favourites.
Prior to the game against San Marino, there was an unusually large amount of time, devoted to England in the English papers. Much of it was directed towards one Wayne Rooney and his pursuit of Bobby Charlton’s goal scoring record. Before the game, the Manchester United striker was just eight goals behind the all-time leading goal scorer’s record and there was questions marks about whether the Croxteth-born forward deserves to be mentioned as one of England’s greats.
After his penalty against San Marino, Rooney moved onto 42, now just a couple of goals behind Jimmy Greaves who is in third place on the chart. His coach Roy Hodgson backed him to claim the record outright before too long and believes that his captain has still “got a good few years in him”.
Even if Rooney does claim the goal scoring record, which he probably will in the next 12 months given that England play the likes of Estonia (twice), Lithuania and San Marino, there is a feeling that he might not be considered an England great. There is a sense that he has never really lit up the international stage on fire. And to be fair, his record of a solitary goal in three World Cups doesn’t help his cause a great deal. And then there are those who believes that the only reason that the 28-year-old has scored so many is because of the opposition he has faced.
Let us face facts here. Of Rooney’s 42 goals, only seven have come against the minnows- Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino. Most of his goals have come against teams that have been ranked just below England or in among the top 30 teams in the world. And his record of 30 goals in competitive internationals means that he is England’s top scorer in competitive matches.
The stone with which he is usually beaten up is the fact that he often scores in meaningless friendlies, which again couldn’t be farther from the truth. Only 12 of the striker’s 42 goals have come in friendlies, when you compare that to Charlton, who had 22 of 49, or Gary Lineker who had 26 out of his 48 in friendlies, you will notice that the 28-year-old’s goals have often come in crucial qualifiers, even if his tournament record isn’t particularly great.
While it is true that he only broke his goal scoring duck in the World Cup earlier this year, the simple fact is that even Lionel Messi, a player proclaimed to be arguably the greatest player in the world, had the exact same amount of goals in World Cups before the start of the summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
Although Lineker has 10 World Cup goals and is the record-holder for England in that regard, only Geoff Hurst with 5, has even managed half of Lineker’s tally. Rooney’s World Cup record in comparison to other England greats isn’t too bad, particularly when you consider the fact that he was injured in 2006 and didn’t have a particular great supply line behind him each of the last two World Cups.
Irrespective of the goals he has scored so far, we are talking about a player who is just two appearances shy of becoming the ninth-English player to accrue a century of caps. A player who might eventually go onto break David Beckham’s record for most caps as an outfield player and might even run Peter Shilton close for the all-time leading appearance maker as well.
But the simple fact is that, he is Wayne Rooney. And barring an absolutely amazing Euro 2016 in which Rooney single-handedly guides the team to the semi-finals or finals or even wins the entire tournament, his stock with the general public is unlikely to rise any further than it is now.
By the time the next World Cup comes around, Rooney will be a few months shy of his 33rd birthday and even if though he might still be playing then, it is hard to imagine him be the focal point of the England attack. And even if he is, and has become the country’s leading goal scorer and appearance maker by then, it is unlikely that Rooney will be lauded any time soon. For the England supporters are hard ones to please and Rooney is someone who often divides opinion on his own.
And while he may not get the recognition he deserves while he is still playing football, maybe he will once he has hung up his boots. Maybe the supporters will finally come to realise that he was one of the few world-class players of his generation. And for the abuse he gets about his play, the records don’t lie. After all, nostalgia is a funny thing, ain’t it.