Wayne Rooney: England forward says farewell game is a 'huge honour'
Last updated on .From the section England
Wayne Rooney says it is a "huge honour" to be granted a farewell appearance for England, and that it will be his chance "to say thank you to the fans".
The 33-year-old DC United forward, who is England's record goalscorer, will play some part in the game against the United States at Wembley on Thursday.
"I don't know how much I'm going to play," he told his club's website.
"I'll speak to [manager] Gareth Southgate and whatever he wants me to play I'm happy to. It's Gareth's call."
Thursday's game, now called 'The Wayne Rooney Foundation international', will honour the striker and his charity.
He will come on as a second-half substitute, and will not captain the side or wear the number 10 shirt.
Rooney has scored 53 goals in 119 England appearances and last played for his country against Scotland in November 2016.
"It's a huge honour for the Football Association to grant me this game," he said. "It's an important game because there will be money raised for children's charities.
"To play and be involved in the squad, see some old team-mates and Gareth Southgate, and some of the coaching staff, will be a great moment.
"To pull on the England jersey again in front of the fans will be a way of me to say thank you for the support they've shown me over my time playing for England."
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For a drink-driving adulterer, Rooney's PR people must be earning triple-time! A United legend but is largely despised in England for being overhyped & wasting a good place in tournament squads for a dozen years.
#sham
The FA have no soul and they take us for fools. We all know it's about the dollar, despite the pious proclamations of charity
By the way I hate Cole, just seems inconsistent!
5 minutes ago
Jesus Christ it's a one off friendly. Let it be. It is just like a testimonial. Can't believe everyone is getting so stressed about it. Get a life."
But how many England players in history have been deemed worthy of using a full international as a "testimonial" and what makes Wayne "1 World Cup Goal" Rooney uniquely worthy of such a tribute?
USAFA " lovely. We'd be delighted. But to make it worth everyone's while, to get the big TV bucks, we need Rooney to play"
FA "Consider it done"
FA " Get on to our creative department and find a reason to pick Rooney. Make up a charity or something. Oh and smooth it with Gareth."
FA " WHO needs Blather, we can sort ourselves out."
Record goalscorer! So what - most of his goals were against cannon fodder or had minimal importance. At least Bobby Charlton won the World Cup with his record!
Overhyped and over commercialised. He peaked at 17 for god sake but for the rest of his career the media wouldn't get enough of him.
Granny... Need I say more
Hey Ian @#25 You don’t consider him an England great despite him being his country’s record goal scorer?
No and most of vthese played far less games than him Bobby Moore Edwards Matthews Finney Banks Hurst Robson Beckham Gazza etc and there are many more who were much better than Rooney.
All the old guys at the FA must go..
Thanks for what you gave us years ago & the goals, in a time when the international game is a joke, games against minows, never tested himself outside the PL except MLS.
Imho no player should be recalled to his country after deciding to make himself unavailable previously.