England's Newest Centurion: Is Rooney an England Legend?

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.

British and Irish Lions Tour 2013: Test Series Preview

        Despite the prominence of many of the home nations' rugby squads in the world game over recent decades, the combination of them into the Lions has rarely led to success on tour. As being selected is seen as the highest honour in international rugby on the these shores, surely the players cannot be accused of being mercenaries like their footballing compatriots. However, a couple of things that perhaps could be laid at the door of many of the Lions players is either they have a 'Lampard and Gerrard' inability to work together when the nations unite, or perhaps they are too afraid of losing their place in the presitigious line-up to put themselves out there and perhaps make mistakes? Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the Lions have only won 2 test series in the previous 36 years, showing that there is clearly a problem.

         Discovering this problem is currently the job of Warren Gatland. The ex-Wales boss impressed as manager of the dragons, leading them to two Six Nations Grand Slams in 2008 and 2012, and the World Cup semi final in 2011, where they were cruelly denied a place in the final after captain Sam Warburton was wrongfully dismissed against the French. As head coach of the Lions, his first job has been assembling a squad capable of winning a test tour, a job that has been shown to be incredibly difficult in the past. Fortunately, the new coach has a wealth of talent to select from. Having an excellent knowledge of Welsh talent is particularly important, especially as they are the current holders of the Six Nations, and they correspondingly had the most representatives in the initial squad. The first announcement of the Lions squad was made on the 30th April 2013, where the squad was made up of 15 Welsh players, 10 English, 9 Irish and just the 3 from Scotland. However, as is often the case in rugby tours, withdrawals and injuries are common. As a result, the make-up of the Lions squad has changed somewhat over the last few weeks. Correct at time of publishing, the Lions contained 15 Welsh players, 13 English, 10 Irish, and 4 Scots, with many being called up either to directly replace the injured player, or as cover in case of further injuries. Not the best start to a tour, but I suppose it was to be expected.

         In assessing the Lions potential to lead a successful tour down under, it is worth looking at the warm-up games as an indication of their success. The Lions embarked on the tour in May, with the first warm up game taking place on the 1st June in Hong Kong. A comprehensive 59-8 victory against the Barbarians eased the Lions into life on tour, and gave them a morale boosting victory to start the campaign off. Having taken a brief stop in Asia, the Lions moved to Australasia, playing their second warm up game in Perth on June 5th. An even more emphatic win followed, with a 69-15 success over Western Force. Unfortunately, the match was marred by two incidents involving Cian Healy, with the Irish prop firstly being accused of biting an opponent (a charge that was subsequently dropped), and then suffering a tour-ending injury. His absence, coupled with the fact that the Lions had played 3 games in a week, meant that they had a much tougher game against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane. Winning only 22-12, and suffering a number of high profile casualties (Tuilagi and Bowe), the Lions were uninspiring in victory, giving Gatland his first cause for concern.

         He needn't have worried about the Lions performances. A whitewash in their next game in Newcastle against the Combined New South Wales-Queensland Country on June 11th saw the Lions return to full form, winning 64-0. Another convincing victory followed, with New South Wales Waratahs dispatched 47-17 four days later in Sydney. However, once again injuries ruined an impressive display, with Jamie Roberts hobbling off. Having looked confident and ready for the start of the test series, the Lions then suffered a sucker punch, losing their final warm-up game 14-12 against the ACT Brumbies in Canberra. This threatened to undo all of the good work of the past two weeks, and potentially undermine the confidence of this injury plagued squad.

         If Warren Gatland wanted his initial selections to all be fit for the start of the first test, and therefore selected his best squad, perhaps participating in 6 pre-test warm-ups was not the wisest move. Whilst it is traditional for tours to last longer than simply the test series, to expect that no injuries would be suffered is highly unrealistic. It has been argued that these warm-up matches are essential in enabling the team to gel and get match practice and fitness before the big test games, however, there have been accusations made that the matches selected were far too easy for the Lions, meaning that little match practice was actually gained from them. Even worse, it means that the injuries that have happened whilst on the tour are ultimately for nothing, as they were initially seen as a risk worth taking for match practice. These injuries can certainly partially explain the loss in the final warm-up game, as with a weakened side very few teams would fare well. Equally, the fact that none of these replacement players have been given sufficient time to gel puts the Lions almost back to the same position they were in when they began the tour.

         Whilst I agree that warm-up games, in any sport, are necessary and positive, a few general principles must be applied. Firstly, always make sure you have sufficient rest time. You cannot legislate for certain injuries in games, however, you risk exacerbating the situation by playing so many games in such a short space of time, especially in a physical game like rugby. Therefore, perhaps four warm-up games would have been sufficient, giving the players with minor knocks time to recover before exerting themselves once again. As I mentioned at the top of the post, all home nation rugby players are desperate to be involved in the Lions setup, and therefore will not want to hand over their jersey once selected. This leaves them at a much greater risk of suffering serious injury, as their desire to keep their place often overwhelms their self-preservation instinct. Secondly, make sure you select sides that will test you. It is pointless playing a Sunday league side that you will score treble figures against in a glorified training exercise. If you want to allow your players to effectively gel and gain match practice and fitness, you have to be involved in a competitive game. Otherwise there is no pressure on the players to perform. Certainly, there are elements of this in the current tour, however, it is worth noting that two of the 6 games have been very close contests, with the Lions victorious in one, and defeated in the other.

         As for what this indicates about the upcoming test series, I fear for the Lions. It is a strange one, as each of the home nations are capable of beating the Aussies on their day. Therefore, you wold expect that a side of the best players of each nation combined would whitewash them. However, rarely does this seem to be the case, and with the injuries that have been suffered by the Lions in the run-up, their chances of bringing home a series victory have been cut. That being said, Warren Gatland is a fantastic coach, and if anyone can get the best out of the players they have at their disposal, he can. I will be watching, more in hope than expectation, to see if the Lions can pull off an historic victory on Saturday to give them momentum going into the second test.