Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney has revealed that he did not enjoy playing as a lone striker during England’s ill-fated World Cup campaign in Germany. The 20-year-old striker, who was sent off during England’s quarter-final defeat against Portugal, releases his autobiography this summer entitled ‘My Story So Far’, extracts of which were published in a newspaper Sunday. In the book Rooney says that he disagreed with Sven-Goran Eriksson over team selection.

“If it had been my decision I probably would have preferred Peter Crouch up front with me behind, but it wasn’t my shout,” he writes. “You have to believe the manager knows best. Which I did.”

Rooney also says that he wept tears of despair in the dressing-room after he had been sent off against Portugal for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho. Initially he was too angry to cry, he says, but after the game he said his team-mates’ sympathy for him made him weep.

“The players came over to me, one by one, and said things like: ‘Don’t worry, Wazza, it wasn’t your fault.’ That was when, for the first time, I felt a few tears come into my eyes.

“I’ll go to my grave and still maintain it was a complete accident. When I fell I had my back to the player. I couldn’t see him, or where I was putting my foot. If it had been a definite stamp meant to harm him, the fella would still be in hospital to this day. But he was up on his feet in minutes, no worse for wear.

“It was all the sort of thing that happens when you are fighting hard for the ball.”

Rooney insists that he bears no malice against his Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, who he shoved under the eyes of the referee moments before receiving his red card.

However, Rooney writes: “They reported that, after the game, I had tried to get into the Portuguese dressing-room in order to hit Ronny [Ronaldo]. That’s not true. What the papers didn’t know and probably will never believe, is that on the coach on the way home I sent a text to Ronny. I told him to forget about what happened. Then I wished him good luck in the semis. And I meant it.”