Rooney the toast of the 'Burberry Crew'

EAT MY GOAL.
By Chris Kirwan
April 2 2003

Burberry clad England fans will be raising their lager tops to Wayne Rooney after he put in a fantastic display on his first start for England.

Rooney was his typical self, and he was involved in the majority of England’s first half chances. In one particular run he beat several Turkish players before playing the perfect through ball for Michael Owen which he naturally missed.

Many questioned whether Rooney would adapt to the international scene, but Rooney doesn’t need to. He carried his bullish attitude through from the Premiership, and was prepared to pick the ball up deep and run at the defenders a-la Elland Road/Highbury. Rooney ensured that England kept a high tempo, and could maintain the pressure on the Turkish defence.

Overall England were a lot better than on Saturday, but I would have liked to have seen Dyer pick up a knock for Sunday. Beckham was poor tonight, and I think he need to pick up some tips from Pembridge as to how to deliver from dead ball situations. It was also good to see ‘big Emile’ congratulate Rooney when he was taken off, he knows that his England future now rests with hitting Owen with a few tasty challenges in training.

Elsewhere, Lee Carsley played for Ireland in Albania, and in all honesty didn’t do much, but was typically solid. He did put the ball in the net late on with an assured finish, but the whistle had already gone for a Gary Doherty foul. Scot Gemmill was an unused sub for Scotland in their defeat in Lithuania, and is no doubt thrilled to have made the journey. Gary Naysmith did feature. Thomas Gravesen played as Denmark fell to Bosnia at home, hopefully ‘the boys stayed in the barracks’.