Despite the long history of England's national football team, it comes as a considerable surprise that just nine individuals hold more than 100 caps. The latest of these, Wayne Rooney, has been at the heart of the side for almost a decade, and in recent years we have seen an arguable overreliance on the combustible forward. But a true England legend alongside the likes of Bobby Moore, David Beckham and Bobby Charlton? I'm not so sure.
Though the caps statistic doesn't lie (Rooney follows an elite list of Peter Shilton, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Bobby Moore, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Bobby Charlton and Billy Wright), it's not the only statistic that matters. As a successful striker, Rooney, as with any other forward in world football, is ultimately going to be judged on goals scored. As of writing this, Wayne Rooney sits 3rd on the all-time England scoring list - just three behind Bobby Charlton at the top.
If we dig a little deeper, however, we see that this achievement is not as impressive as it initially appears. Of the eight other England centurions, just one is a striker - Charlton. This brings us onto an additional point. As well as the volume of Rooney's goals, it is also important that the ratio of goals to games is considered. As of writing this, Rooney's record is an average of a goal every 157 minutes. While this is comparable - even slightly better than Bobby Charlton (193 minutes), he is actually behind considerably more than just the two other England goalscorers for volume. Second in the list, Gary Lineker scored an average of a goal every 136 minutes, while 4th place Jimmy Greaves has an incredibly impressive 117 minutes a goal.
On top of this, Rooney also falls behind Michael Owen (155), Nat Lofthouse (95), Steve Bloomer (74), Vivian Woodward (72), Stan Mortensen (98), Tommy Lawton (94), Peter Crouch (99). And that's just those that have scored more than 20 for their country!
So Rooney as a goalscorer is perhaps not all it's been suggested to be cracked up to be. These is further reinforced when you look at the opposition against whom England's current talisman has scored the majority of his goals. Interestingly, though Rooney has played matches against the majority of the world's top footballing nations, he has only scored against four of FIFA's top ten, and has only scored more than once against one - Brazil. This is despite the England man finding the net on more than one occasion against 15 different opponents in his career.
If we look at those nations he has been most clinical against, we see an obvious pattern develop. At the top of the list, Rooney has scored four goals against Croatia (14 world ranking) and San Marino (208), three goals against Switzerland (12) and Kazakhstan (132) and two against Slovakia (24), Iceland (28) Denmark (32), Scotland (37), Poland (44), Bulgaria (59), Montenegro (64), Estonia (88), Belarus (106) and Andorra (202). If we find an average ranking of those he is most prolific against, it comes in at 70, or Antigua and Barbuda in the current rankings.
We also don't tend to remember his performances at major competitions fondly. With the exception of his earliest tournament - a four goal salvo at Portugal's Euro 2004, he has been underwhelming. Germany's World Cup in 2006 saw Rooney attempt to stop Ricardo Carvalho from ever having kids (who can forget Cristiano Ronaldo's wink?!), while the less said about the 2010 and 2014 World Cups the better. Even in 2012, which saw England put in reasonable performances on their way to the quarter finals, Rooney failed to live up to his talismanic billing. He himself has said that until he wins a trophy with England, he cannot eclipse Sir Bobby Charlton as England's greatest. Sorry Wayne, but until you win something as the nation's centrepiece, you won't even be up there for consideration, let alone the top. Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Peter Shilton, Gordon Banks and David Beckham have all had tournaments where they were the heart of the team, but all have kept a high level of performance up consistently, which is more than can be said for Rooney.
However, there is one point that works in the favour of Rooney. All of the above have been involved in great England teams, be it the World Cup winners, the 1990 semi finalists or the 'Golden Generation' of 2002-06. Rooney may have seen the very back end of this era, but the majority of his time with the 3 Lions has been in a position of adversity, where the public expects more than is achievable. Though the failures of the last two World Cups go even further beyond that, it's certainly a mitigating circumstance for Rooney, who has had to carry the majority of the team for too many years.
He's certainly not a legend yet, and I'm struggling to see whether he ever can be. He is certainly among the most talented players England has ever produced, but I can't help but think that pressure, and circumstance, has held him back when playing his country. It is this, and this alone, that Rooney needs to handle better if he is to be talked about in the same breath as Charlton, Moore, Banks and Beckham, regardless of how many goals he scores against San Marino.
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