Rooney: I could have played better
England striker Wayne Rooney has held his hands up and admitted that he did not play well enough in the disappointing 1-1 draw with Poland in Warsaw on Wednesday evening. England led 1-0 in this game after Rooney himself got on the score-sheet, but the Poles managed to pull a goal back and in truth, the visitors were lucky to come away with something.
Rooney was far from at his best, despite grabbing a goal – his first touch looked poor and he missed a golden opportunity to extend England’s lead.
The striker said: “I know I can play better than that.
“It was hard work. First half I was making long runs back and then trying to get forward and then went out to the left for the second half and I was a bit tired, so I’ve no problem with being taken off.”
It was never going to be an easy game for Roy Hodgson’s men, especially after the fiasco that saw the game called off on Tuesday evening.
However, both teams had to deal with the situation and Poland did look as though they were there for the taking, especially in the first half.
Rooney is clearly proud to play for his country and is not happy when he does not put in the performances that he is capable of.
The 1-1 draw left England just one point ahead of Montenegro and having played a game more, they know they are not in the driving seat in the group at the moment.
There is still a long way to go though and many will still be tipping Hodgson’s side to reach the World Cup in Brazil.
You could even say that a positive from this match was the England and Rooney were far from at their best, but they still picked up a point. Hodgson highlighted the fact that this was a point gained and that everyone may look back to this as a superb result come the end of the qualifying campaign.
There are now no World Cup qualifiers until March 2013, where the Three Lions face San Marino, and then a crunch tie against Montenegro.
With no international games to bet on for a while, why not see if you could spin and win on some fruit machines?
