England captain Wayne Rooney admits he has failed to deliver for Three Lions ahead of Euro 2016 clash with Iceland on Monday
WAYNE ROONEY may be England’s record scorer but he accepts he has failed to deliver at a major tournament.
And, for the first time, the Three Lions captain admits he put far too much pressure on himself in the past — leading to his disappointing displays.
After bursting on to the scene at Euro 2004, which ended in a sending-off, Rooney’s appearances in summer finals have been littered with injuries and miserable form.
Now, he is desperate to avoid being considered a poor England skipper as he leads his country at these Euros.
Here in France he has suddenly become an important player in central midfield and was ludicrously dropped for the final group game against Slovakia.
Rooney no longer feels he has to carry the team offensively thanks to the armoury Roy Hodgson can call upon and that he is benefiting from the lifting of that burden.
Giving an honest appraisal of former failures, Rooney said: “I have never looked back and used injuries as an excuse.
“Other tournaments, I haven’t played as well as I can do and I accept that.
“In terms of this one, I look at it and wonder how I can do better than in previous tournaments and do better for the team. I think the position I am playing suits me and suits the team.
“I have always held pressure inside that I have to be the one to try and win us games and win tournaments.
“We have a lot of players who can do that now. I am happy to sit in the background and let those players do that, and if I have a chance to be that person — and step up to be the person to win us games — I will do that.
“I have come into this tournament and we have players capable of doing magical things. We have five or six match-winners in our team and I cannot say we have always had that.”
One of Rooney’s lowest moments in an England shirt was his rant to a TV camera about the fans booing the 0-0 draw at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
He added: “That’s what I was saying before. When it didn’t go well it would build up inside. I think I’m a different person, a different player, to what I was then.
“I think that has shown in my football. Just naturally as a person I’ve matured a lot. I don’t think you’ll see that again. But at the time that was frustrating.
“It’s part of your development. That’s who I was and I have no regrets about the person I was back then. "I’m sure in five years’ time, I’ll have no regrets about the person I am today. It’s part of football. You learn from it.”
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Speaking at the FA’s media centre on the outskirts of Chantilly, Rooney was asked about the reason for his change in mentality.
He said: “I think first of all it was my children — it made me look at things differently.
“But, of course, taking over as captain of Manchester United and England was in terms of how I was with my team-mates. Then a lot of things in terms of football changed.
“The big thing was that I didn’t want to be remembered as a captain who wasn’t good for his team, wasn’t good for his team-mates and wasn’t good for his club or country.
“I wanted to be a success and I think with everything I have done, I have always wanted to be successful.
“And I want to be a successful captain for both Manchester United and England.
“I still felt I have got time to do that with England — and hopefully it will be in the next few weeks.”
Rooney trained with his team-mates yesterday, with the emphasis on scoring goals.
England scored nine goals from 47 attempts during the shooting session which lasted around 20 minutes.
Jamie Vardy, Harry Kane and Jack Wilshere scored twice; Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge once.
On the pitch, after two goals in seven attempts, boss Hodgson said: “The quality at the moment has to be better than this.”
During the first three games, England scored three times despite having 34 shots from inside the penalty area.
Rooney, though, believes the tournament is finally about to start for real.
He added: “It has been a bit of a strange and different format in terms of three teams going through from most groups.
“Now everyone knows who they are going to play, which teams win, where you are going to play.
“We know the teams will have a go at us unless they are playing for penalties — and in that case we would be confident of going 120 minutes and scoring.”
For once, Rooney wants to leave a summer finals without any regrets.
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