Funny that Fernando Couto (while he may not be the greatest player around but certainly has seen enough to know a good one when he sees one) has gone in record in The Sun saying he can't believe Downing is not in the squad and that there is no young player like him at that position in Italy. Whether or not he should be in the full squad is a moot point (he's not), the fact remains he is an excellent talent. As for physique, I don't see Reyes or Vicente being much different from him, obviously Robben has a speed advantage, but Downing is no slouch. Go and watch a couple of Middlesbrough games and you might find it's not just the English who are impressed by him.
jpatel1508> I used to have my doubts about Rooney and his ability as well. Honestly, I thought he was overated. Before Euro '04 what had he done? One, admittedly awesome, goal against Arsenal? That was it in my mind. Well, along rolls Euro '04 and I watched England play and boy did I see Rooney play. Further more, I watched him trounce Fernebache in the Champions league... So I got interested in the kid and did some background research. You said to check out what Owen did when he was younger... well, I am sorry to break this to you jpatel... rooney has outscored every single English youngster to date in youth teams (more than Owen, Shearer, even the legendary Charlton and Lineker)... Owen is England's best striker at the moment but the potential that Rooney has is at least that of Owen when he was 18, if not more... Can you fault the English for their faith in one of the most promising young talents on the face of the planet... He has eclipsed Christiano Ronaldo as ManU's most exciting young talent and even Reyes (whom you seem to adore) does not measure up to the impact Rooney had on his team. Finally, Rooney holds the ball exceptionally well and is built like a tank... you wrongly state that he cannot control a game, when it seems blatantly obvious to the rest of us on this site that he controlled the England-Croatia, England-Switzerland, ManU-Ferne, and ManU-Newcastle game... The kid is a true gem and just because you "just don't like him" is no reason to write him off... I garuntee that Sven, even though we all question his judgements, is in a much better position to judge how good Rooney is. And if he thinks Rooney is the best young striker in the world then there is more of a chance that his opinion is correct (rather than yours). So unless you can find some concrete evidence that points to the reasons as to why you think Rooney is overated, and is in fact just an overhyped average striker (You won't find any by the way), then I suggest you shut your trap. PS. Your criticisms of him probably ********ing up in the future sounds kinda like what US president Bush is doing to nations in the middle east... Namely, "bomb 'em if they look suspicious"... seriously man you need to have evidence before you make blind statements! Cheers
http://skysports.planetfootball.com...219&CLID=&lid=2&title=Casillas+in+Rooney+jibe I'm not the only one.
Right, so Casillas doesn't think Rooney is the best player in the world either. Funnily enough, nor does anybody else as far as I can see. Anyway, Casillas doesn't exactly say he is crap: "In any case he has already achieved a lot. In two years he could be a 'crack' [star player]."
That is no jibe, it's the honest truth. Rooney has the talent to be a superstar and has achieved a great deal already including a number of great games, but not even Rooney himself would claim to be the finished article and at his full potential already at 19 years old. Still a marvellous and frequently matchwinning talent and a well deserved selection for England. To say he "only has a good right foot" is laughable, the words of a red squared moron.
so rooney isn't the greatest striker the world has ever seen? let's drop him *yawn* lemme tell you this, there isn't a national side in the world that would be happy to see us play Rooney over Defoe.
And isn't it funny that the particular players that I recall mouthing off about Rooney pre-game (Lilian Thuram before England vs France and Rustu before Man Utd vs Fenerbahce) were then made to look like Keystone Cops rejects by Rooney during the game itself. I have particularly fond memories of Rooney brushing Thuram off the ball like he was made of feathers, juggling the ball under his nose for good measure, and then leaving him trailing in his wake, only for Silvestre to upend him in the box. The look on the face of the guy with the old biddies' name was excellent. Probably therefore just as well for Helguera that he got himself injured.
Additionally... he can be an aggressive tight marker when given the order to do so... though he usually enjoys getting forward. He's scored quite a few goals from set-pieces by arriving late at the back post, with his head as well. I'd keep an eye on him if i were Beckham.
Del Horno is damn good -- one of those Basques that Athletic always seems to unearth to keep themselves in the liga primera. If anyone is going to be exposed as overrated it will probably be Torres, not Rooney. As far as I can tell most Spanish fans are starting to get tired of waiting for him to be the next great Spanish star. He just gets taken out of matches far too easily by a good defense.
Interesting point about Torres .You dont hear any of the English players slagging off torres and saying he is over-rated .But the spanish seem to be quick to stick the knife into roonaldo . Rooney scored more goals than the whole spanish team combined at Euro 2004 .
The current Brazilian national coach, Zico and Carlos Alberto all donated props 2 Rooons' potential...the geezer's only 19. Should b a good game dis evelin' (as my Granny would say).
The hype around Torres is absolutely nothing compared to Rooney. How many goals did he score in Euro? 3? 4? One of them shouldn't of been credited as his anyway as it hit the post and came back off the keeper and therefore was a shot off target. The guy is shite. People talk about when he burned Thuram. They both went for the ball, the ball took a deflection off one of them and then it was a straight sprint, Thuram being old and fat, Rooney being young - Guess who won that chase? He dived to get the penalty too. It's a shame Puyol isn't playing tonight. He'd mark that smug little twat out the game absolutely no bother. If he can do it to Ronaldo, he can do it to 'roonaldo'
What an absolute load of bitter rubbish, and of course it has to come from a scottish muppet with a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder. Nobody in here cares what you think with your foaming at the mouth anti-english garbage. I would take Rooney now over any scottish player in history, let alone the third-rate pub team players they have now. Try getting a life and doing something constructive, trolling in the England forum, how desperate for attention are you?
Does anyone know of any internet radio broadcast of the game? BBC will broadcast it over the Net but it will only be available to listeners within the UK.
What truth would that be? That an 18 year old English lad scored more goals in one tournament than the entire Scottish squad in the last 10 years or that the said 18 year old lad is more talented than any of the club footed floggers that have represented Scotchland, ever?
Not sure, I don't think the bouncer's doing his job. Shouldn't be too hard to spot a Scotsman... 5 foot 5, red hair, wearing a skirt and smelling of whiskey and haggis. I'll fire him.