Wayne Rooney has revealed that he is already dreaming about firing England to glory at next year’s World Cup finals.
Fabio Capello’s side made it six wins from six qualifying matches with Saturday’s 4-0 victory away to Kazakhstan, with three more points seemingly a formality when Andorra visit Wembley on Wednesday.
Rooney’s two previous tournament finals have ended in bitter disappointment. A broken metatarsal caused him to limp out of England’s quarter- final defeat by Portugal at Euro 2004 and he was sent off at the same stage as his team-mates were knocked out by the same opponents at the World Cup in Germany two years later — and Rooney is determined to make amends next summer.
The Manchester United striker is enjoying his best run of form for England since bursting on to the international scene in Portugal five years ago, scoring eight goals in his past six appearances, and keeping him fit will be the key to England’s hopes in South Africa.
“We’re all thinking about the World Cup because it’s the biggest tournament in the world and we’re one step closer,” Rooney, 23, said. “If we win on Wednesday, it will be a massive step and then there are the games in September.
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“I’d love to play in a big tournament again as the two I have played in so far have ended in a big disappointment. Hopefully we can qualify and win something with this team.”
Capello will seek to play down expectations before the tournament, but his players’ spirits are soaring after an excellent 18 months under the Italian. England are the top scorers in European qualification with 20 goals and are one of only three teams sporting a 100 per cent record, along with Spain, the European champions, and Holland.
Rooney’s second-half overhead kick was the pick of the goals against Kazakhstan, but almost as pleasing as his superb form was the fact that there were four goalscorers, with Gareth Barry, Emile Heskey and Frank Lampard also on the scoresheet.
“It’s always nice when you win and score goals as well,” Rooney said. “Four different scorers is good for the team and shows we can score goals from anywhere. Steven Gerrard scored 20-odd goals this season, Frank Lampard always scores goals and Emile has now scored two in his last two games.
“There are a lot of players who can score goals for us. I thought we could have played a lot better at times on a difficult pitch, but we’re delighted to get the three points.”
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Glen Johnson, having endured a difficult match, offered a predictably more downbeat assessment. “It wasn’t the best performance from the boys so the three points were great,” the Portsmouth defender said. “It was obviously going to be a difficult start. The whole squad hadn’t really slept for three days, given the time difference and stuff, and all those things play a part.”
Johnson, 24, said that moving to Portsmouth in 2007 and playing regularly had revitalised his love of football, which will give him plenty to ponder as Chelsea consider an attempt to bring him back to Stamford Bridge this summer.
“I wasn’t given a chance at Chelsea,” Johnson said. “Playing one game in six weeks is no good for anybody. At that age I needed to be playing and wanted to be playing, so it was difficult. At the start you can bite your tongue and bear it, but there’s only so much you can take.
“There’s a saying, ‘What hurts you only makes you stronger.’ It made me appreciate playing at Portsmouth every week, definitely. The main difference for me is that Portsmouth made me love the game again.
“When I was at Chelsea, I used to say to my mates that I’m paid to play football, but football’s what I’m doing least.”