Rooney warns: We still have to improve
WAYNE ROONEY last night warned there is still a lot of hard work in front of his England side if they are to fulfil a dream of lifting the World Cup.
The Three Lions won nine of their 10 qualification matches under Fabio Capello but face, arguably, their toughest test to date tomorrow when they take on World Cup favourites Brazil in Qatar.
And Rooney, who is expected to lead the England front line in Doha, insists the game will be a good indicator as to how far the side have come under the Italian.
“We are doing quite well,” the Manchester United front man said. “We have played better in the qualifiers than we have in the friendlies but this is another chance to see how far we have come.
“We have definitely got world-class players and we are in with a chance. It does hurt when you see the players we have had over the years and we have not won it. We are trying to put it right.
“But there is a lot of hard work in front of us and it is going to take a lot of improvement if we are going to win the World Cup.”
Capello has been forced into naming an experimental line-up the withdrawal of midfielder Frank Lampard yesterday left him without no fewer than eight of his 11 first-choice starting line-up.
Lampard flew back home to London yesterday after picking up a thigh injury in training, leaving only Rooney, Gareth Barry and captain John Terry as Capello’s regular starters.
Rooney’s United team-mate Wes Brown is an almost guaranteed starter as the only right-back in the squad, but despite the loss of many England big guns, new Dad Rooney insists there is still enough quality among the squad to cause an upset.
“To play against them Brazil is something I’m really looking forward to,”he added. “It’s a great opportunity to test ourselves against the best team in the world. Hopefully we can win it.”