Can Wayne Rooney handle the pressure at major international tournaments?
If there’s one person who knows exactly what makes Wayne Rooney tick, then it’s Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The wily old Scot, who signed Rooney from Everton in September 2004, has claimed that the huge expectation on the 24-year-old’s shoulders was the reason for his sub-standard performances at this summer’s World Cup finals.
With no goals or assists to his name from England’s four matches in South Africa, the 2010 World Cup proved his second disappointing major tournament – following Germany in 2006, where the Croxteth-born striker was infamously sent-off against Portugal in the quarter-finals.
Having now been involved in three major tournaments with England, only Euro 2004, where he burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old heavyweight, has been a success for Rooney on a personal level.
At Manchester United last season, Rooney was instrumental in the team’s best performances. Off the back of his most prolific-ever season, in which he netted a remarkable 34 goals, the Red Devils No. 10 was tipped to take the World Cup by storm and cement his status alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as one of the very best players in world football.
Instead, all Rooney will be remembered for at this World Cup finals is his failure to hit the back of the net, and a frustrated outburst directed towards the England supporters after the team’s 0-0 draw against Algeria.
Questions are now being asked about his ability to shine in an England shirt; and whether or not he can replicate his club form for his national side in the biggest matches, on the biggest stages.
Ferguson certainly has no doubts that he can. The United boss has defended his star player, and warned that at the next World Cup in four years time, everyone will see the real Wayne Rooney.
"There was such expectation on him, talk he was going to be the player of the tournament," Ferguson commented.
"That was the prelude to the whole thing. You wait, in four years time you'll see a different player."
England supporters will be hoping Ferguson’s premonition comes true.
Few would have predicted that Rooney would ever be fazed by expectation levels back in 2004. Here was a 17-year-old boy, assuming the role of England’s talisman with consummate ease at a European Championship. And with Manchester United, Rooney has rarely looked troubled with the significant weight on his shoulders of leading one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
When Cristiano Ronaldo left Old Trafford last summer, Rooney cast away any lingering doubts that he could inspire a team by example and be the “main man” with a season of performances which earned him a host of personal accolades at the end of the campaign, including the Barclays Player of the Season.
Taking all this into consideration, surely pressure can be ruled out as the primary factor for Rooney’s poor displays in South Africa?
The striker looked visibly shattered during every one of England’s matches. His failure to complete the simplest of passes or even control the ball was baffling for those who’d watched him week-in-week-out for his club last season.
Some have pinned the blame on Ferguson himself for playing Rooney at the end of the campaign at the same time he was struggling with an ankle injury.
But Rooney wasn’t alone in his failure to perform in South Africa. A lack of service from midfield hardly helped his cause; and in the last 16, England were torn apart by a far more impressive Germany.
There have been many examples over the years of players who can turn on the style for their clubs, but crumble under the intense pressure created during major international tournaments.
However, it must be remembered that Rooney is still young, despite it feeling like he’s been on the scene for years now. Most strikers don’t peak until their mid-to-late twenties, and Rooney certainly possesses the ability to shine at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil with England.
England supporters have always been quick to find a scapegoat for their national side’s failings at a World Cup, though. But the main reasons for Fabio Capello’s side’s failings this summer are far more deep-rooted than Rooney’s ineffectiveness and high expectation levels.
As he’s shown with United, Rooney’s most effective displays come when his teammates are performing well, too. Football has always been, and always will be, a team game. A quick look at Germany proves that team success comes as a direct result of producing a well oiled unit.
And in four years time, if England have managed to take down some valuable notes from Germany’s current model, then Rooney could well be the star of the show – with or without the pressure of being England’s main man.
Tags: