Wayne Rooney... how does it feel?

England have just been knocked out of the World Cup, at the Quarter Final stage, in a penalty shoot out to Portugal (BBC Sport).

Two years ago England were knocked out of Euro 2004, at the Quarter Final stage, in a penalty shoot out to Portugal (BBC Sport).

For the 2004 match I was in the Queens, Birkenhead, on the lash and ultimately devasted. I kicked every ball with England, and it took a while to get over the hurt of such a heroic and undeserved exit. Now i'm sat in the house, with a few cans, and can't really care less. So how come I've gone from passionate fan to cynic in just two years? Two reasons...

Firstly, I've always been an Everton fan first and England fan second. Therefore I didn't want to see Nuno Valtente (Everton's Portuguese fullback) lose. When he slid in for a perfectly timed challend on Aaron Lennon I was delighted the ref didn't give a pen. With Phil Neville, James Beattie, Tony Hibbert and Andy Johnson all overlooked for the England squad my attention has been on Tim Cahill - Everton's Australian goalscoring midfielder. As I've said before, I'm no fan of Sven (England's Manager)
and watching his England side is a chore. By contrast Australia have stepped up with inventive, passionate, and refreshing football. My antipodean roots mean that I've always followed Australia over England at Rugby Union, League and Cricket, but for football it's never been an issue. Now that Australia are playing matches that I get to see, there's no denying that my natural instincts are for the green and gold.

England came into this World Cup in a pickle, with Wayne Rooney injured and Michael Owen unfit. Sven made a blunder by only bringing two other strikers, one of whom - Theo Walcott - has nver played a Premeirhsip match. This led to the disgraceful situation where, in England's first match against Paraguay, Sven didn't have a striker to bring on. This basic mistake became critical once Michael Owen had to return home injured, and has lead to the laughable scenario where if England had reached the semi-final the only available center forward would have been Peter "freakshow" Crouch

But England won't be in the semi finals, and no doubt attention will turn to Wayne Rooney, and his sending off.

Sven Goran Eriksson's incompetence is the first reason I can't be arsed with England, the second is Wayne Rooney.

There's debate as to what Rooney got sent off for today, but it was one of two things. Either for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho, or for pushing Cristiano Ronaldo. If it's the former, it underlines England's tactical suicide by playing Wayne up front on his own. He was always going to be exposed, and get frustrated. As i've said repeatedly throughout this tournamnet Rooney's a ticking time bomb, and our collective attention to whether he's fit has made us forget to question whether he's got the temprement. Ian Wright even said this at half time, predicting Rooney would become frustrated and pick up a card. If, however, he was sent off for the push on Ronaldo it means something else entirely, and is the purpose of this article.

Here's a picture of Wayne Rooney with "John Gimmo", taken on the streets of Liverpool just after Wayne's first Premeirship goal for Everton - the winner, a screamer, against an unbeaten Arsenal. He was out playing football in the streets with a bunch of kids. "Our Wayne", "once a blue, always a blue" etc.

I remember an incident against Man Utd the following season when we came from 3 goals down to draw level, only for Van Nistlerooy to get a last minute winner. Tony Hibbert had up-ended Cristiano Ronaldo and the Man Utd and Portugal winner powered the resulting free kick into Hibberts groin. The next time Ronaldo got the ball Wayne Rooney - who's come back from the halfway line to "defend" at right back - clattered into the greasy cheat and sent him into the stands. THAT'S why we loved Wayne, no nonsense, emphatic, one of us.

Cue England vs Portugal 2004 and Rooney, England's leading light of the tournament, limps off injured and the team succombs to a penalty shoot out defeat. The inevitable press machine whirred and on transfer deadline day Rooney signed for Man Utd. First day of last season he scores against us at Goodison and kisses the United badge. From tracking back to kick a lump out of Ronaldo he's now kissing the Portuguese runt, in front of us!

And tonight it all came crashing down. Ronaldo headbutted Rooney just before kick off, looking for a rise. He then stormed over after Rooney's challenge on Carvalho, trying to get him sent off. Rooney pushed his team mate, the ref noticed, the red card came out. As Rooney leaves the pitch Ronaldo winks at his teammates. The plan worked. They niggled, he bit.

Watching Wayne Rooney play is like seeing an ex-partner do really really well for themselves. You just want to ignore it but you can't. You can't just stop living, so you'll have to bump into them. But deep down you're thinking that they were happier befor - when life was more simple - with you. And then, on the biggest stage, for their biggest moment, the person they've left you for destroys them.

Your heart doesn't beat quite as strong, so you don't give a shit that England are out. You're an Evertonian, so it's fine. But I'm wondering what Wayne Rooney's thinking now. What'll it be like when he returns to pre-season training. If he scores against us at Goodison next season will he still kiss the United badge and will he still kiss Ronaldo?

A week's a long time in politics. Two years in football changes everything.

Comments

[Brussels_Bitter_Blue]

Nice post - I agree with what you've said. As a Blue I have the same problem watching those England beauts so the fact that an Everton player has gone through is some comfort (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt regarding the talkk of him being negative about the club recently).

[Gavin Wilson]

Sven-Goran Eriksson must go down as the most incompetent and overpaid manager England have ever had.

- His selection of strikers chosen for Germany beggared belief.
- His system, whatever it was, made superstars such as Lampard and Gerrard look pedestrian. By the end, Lampard looked more of a liability than an advantage.
- On the bench at the Portugal match, he seemed to do nothing, leaving all the decisions and communications to his side-kick. I don't even believe he had much to say to his team at the start of extra time or the commencement of penalties.

Eriksson has already been accused by the Swedish manager of being paid an obscene amount. Given that he was recruited on the assurance that he could bring the World Cup to England, I think he should pay some of that money back. England never achieved the fluency of France, Brazil, Argentina or Germany, so it's ridiculous to suggest that we would ever have deserved to win the World Cup.

[dearieme]

Does the total that Everton will get for Rooney depend on the number of England caps he gets? I mean, enough of the emotionalism, chaps, what about the old spondoolicks?

[silver bullion]

Wayne Rooney is a gifted player, reminds me of Paul Gascoigne but scores more goals but has less creative flair. Kissing the United badge was not respectful to the Everton supporters who had cheered and nurtured him in his youth.

[Cheap Jordan 1]

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