It was all about Wayne Rooney in the past week after breaking Sir Bobby Charlton’s England goal scoring record. Mr. Charlton’s record of 49 goals stood for 45 years and Rooney whom would turn 30 in October levelled with Sir Charlton’s 49 goal record with his 106th cap for England (same amount of games it took Charlton to hit the 49 goal mark) scoring a penalty against San Marino in the 2016 European Nations Cup qualifier.
Rooney had been criticized for his lack of goals for his club Manchester United after 10 league games without a league goal which unfortunately equals his record of the barren run he had as a teenager at Everton. Wayne Rooney has had good form in the Champions League for his club scoring a hatrick against Club Brugge in the final qualifying round but it is his domestic form that worries me and fans alike.
On the 8th of September, 2015 Wayne Rooney became England’s all-time leading scorer when he scored an 84th minute, wait for it PENALTY. 50 goals in 107 appearances for the Liverpudian and this record looks likely to stay for a while. The most important thing is that he is the all-time top scorer for England and this would hopefully pave the way for him to resume goal scoring duties for Manchester United. With his record equaling and record breaking goals coming from the penalty spot one would think he’s all about penalties but it would shock you to know of his 50 goals only 6 of them were from the penalty spot.
My only criticism of the young man is his performances at tournaments. He has scored 6 goals in 5 tournaments (Euro 2004, World Cup 2006 and 2010, Euro 2012 and World 2014) which is poor for a striker and I say this because despite his dedication to whatever team he plays for he needs to get amongst the goals more. Have a look at Thomas Muller who has scored 10 goals in 2 World Cup tourneys.
Wayne Rooney announced himself to World at the Euro 2004 which held in Portugal where he scored 4 goals before rupturing his metarsal in the quarter final loss against the hosts. A game I strongly believed England would have won if he was available all through the game. He didn’t score at the 2006 and 2010 World Cup but managed a paltry goal at both Euro 2012 (the winner against Sweden in a group game) and World Cup 2014 (in the loss against Uruguay in England’s second group game). I must point out that none of these tournament goals were penalties
Let us have a look at the breakdown of Wazza’s goals.
- 6 Tournament goals
4 at Euro 2004 (A brace each against Switzerland and Croatia)
1 at Euro 2012 (Against Sweden)
1 at World Cup 2014 (Against Uruguay) - 30 goals in both World Cup and European Championship qualifiers
- 14 in friendly games
He scored 11 with his head, 34 with his right foot and 5 with his left foot. 42 of those goals were in the box and 8 from outside the box. Which brings me to the conclusion that he really thrives as a center forward.
I have been rubbing Rooney’s feat in the faces of friends and family and what I hear is what’s in scoring 50 goals or he’s been scoring against weaker teams. “A goal is a goal if the goal of scoring a goal is achieved” so be it a goal against San Marino or Germany it is still a goal.
I pray he scores many more goals before he hangs his boots.
Thanks for reading guys and do have a BLESSED week.
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