The Sunday News
The England squad are hurting after their earliest World Cup exit since 1958 says Wayne Rooney.
Costa Rica’s win over Italy on Friday confirmed that the Three Lions would be heading home after their clash with Los Ticos in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday, having lost their opening matches against Italy and Uruguay.
And Rooney declared on Saturday that Roy Hodgson’s men are hurting but that they will certainly be looking to restore some pride when they meet Costa Rica – who have won both their opening matches.
“Obviously we are hurting,” Rooney said. “We are really disappointed to be out of the tournament.
“I am sure you can imagine it is quite tough and will be a long few days for us, but we have to pick ourselves up for this game on Tuesday.
“We will go out there fighting, show our pride. But overall we are disappointed and you know it is not a great feeling to go out of the tournament after two games so we want to try and restore some of our pride back.”
England had never previously lost their opening two World Cup matches and the 28-year-old reckons that after defeat in Manaus against the Azzurri, it was always going to be a struggle.
“You can’t lose your first game at a World Cup,” he said. “It’s really tough to recover from.
“If we hadn’t won it maybe we would still be in. That’s the biggest lesson.”
It was Rooney who scored England’s second-half equaliser against Uruguay, only for Luis Suarez to net a late winner for La Celeste.
The Manchester United man has made it clear that his first World Cup finals goal was no consolation for England’s defeat – “this team is much bigger than Wayne Rooney is” – and that he has no desire to stop playing for his country.
“I am really proud to play for my country,” he said. “I never want to pull out of squads, I always turn up and play for England when I am called upon.” — Mirror
