Euro 2016: Wayne Rooney bats away fears over England’s dreadful record in major finals before crunch Iceland clash
Arsene Wenger was once called a specialist in failure by Jose Mourinho — but it is better suited to the Three Lions
ARSENE WENGER was once accused of being a specialist in failure by Jose Mourinho.
The term, though, would have been far better used to describe England teams at major finals.
We are a nation which will tonight attempt to win only its SEVENTH knockout stage match in 50 years.
Paraguay (1986), Belgium (1990), Cameroon (1990), Spain (1996), Denmark (2002) and Ecuador (2006) feature in this pathetic list — and only three of those were achieved inside 90 minutes.
Skipper Wayne Rooney is back in the team tonight following the controversial decision by boss Roy Hodgson to rest him for the final group game against Slovakia.
And the upbeat Manchester United striker, 30, firmly batted away any fears that this squad has been scarred by previous failures.
Indeed, he claimed the youth and inexperience among the Three Lions will actually work in their favour.
Five of the players who start tonight — Joe Hart, Gary Cahill, Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and, of course, Rooney — featured in the 2-1 loss to Uruguay which saw England fail to qualify from the group stages at the 2014 World Cup.
In fact, Rooney is the only player to have featured in a knockout win.
That was the 1-0 triumph over Ecuador courtesy of a David Beckham free-kick in Stuttgart at the World Cup in Germany a decade ago.
Having played well enough against Russia and Wales in his new midfield role, Rooney must ensure Dele Alli combines better with the attacking trio.
That includes Sterling, who is lucky to be given yet another chance to get back his seemingly shattered confidence.
Equally Rooney, who is not afraid to hand out rollockings in games, must ensure the team remains focused and patient against potentially defence-minded opponents.
Related Stories
Asked about that embarrassing knockout record, Rooney said: “There are not many players in the squad who have got that record, so hopefully it won’t affect them. Those other tournaments are gone.
"It’s a new tournament and a new challenge for us as a team.
“It’s pointless looking back at previous games and knockout stages and how they have gone.
“It would be nice to get to the quarter-finals, which I think would be a great game, but we have to win.
“We’ve seen how the other games have gone, games we should have won.
“But we didn’t, so we are not taking this game lightly at all.”
An Icelandic journalist asked Rooney about the difficulties of facing a country with a smaller population than his native Liverpool.
And it remains a remarkable achievement for a nation with just 330,000 residents to get anywhere near the last 16 of such a major tournament.
Rooney added: “There’s pressure in every game. Fair play to Iceland.
“They’ve done well in this tournament. They’re difficult to break down.
“We respect Iceland for what they’ve done in this tournament.
“The size of the country is just a number.
“They put the same number of players on the pitch as us, so it’s a fair contest in that respect.”
For Rooney, the most important number will be that England actually score more goals than the opposition in a knockout stage game — for once.