Soccer: Excited Rooney vows to ditch bad
temper
LONDON : England striker Wayne Rooney said Monday the ill-tempered
behaviour which has got him into trouble will be long gone by the
time he arrives in Germany for next year's Word Cup finals.
Rooney, whose brilliance is often tinged with disciplinary
problems, is expected to become a target for opposition defences
when England embark on yet another hopeful World Cup
campaign.
However the Manchester United striker, still a teenager, warned
defenders they will be wasting their time trying to wind him
up.
In the past month, Rooney has been sent off for United after
sarcastically clapping referee Kim Milton Nielsen and was banned
for England's qualifier against Austria with his second booking of
the campaign in Belfast.
Combined with an angry outburst at David Beckham, who urged him to
calm down in Northern Ireland, the 19-year-old's volatility has
become a cause for concern, given his importance to his
country.
However, he insists he will pass the next test of his notoriously
fragile temperament, with Nielsen set to referee Wednesday's tie
against Poland and will also not let his team-mates down next
summer.
Asked if he could cope with being a marked man at the World Cup,
Rooney declared: "Yes. Obviously in the past, sometimes my
temperament has let me down a couple of times but I'm a young lad
and I'm going to learn from that.
"I don't think there will be many problems in the future. I go into
each game and want to win. I'm 110 percent committed.
"Sometimes when it hasn't gone right, my temperament has let me
down a bit but I'm trying to put that right and I want to get
better."
Asked if he believed teams would try to wind him up to provoke a
response, he admitted: "Yes, probably, but I'm an experienced
player now and I want to prove that."
But would it actually be a benefit if he was targeted, allowing the
likes of David Beckham, Frank Lampard and Michael Owen more space
in which to inflict damage on the opposition?
"Maybe, yes. We've got some great players in the team and if they
have too much time and space, then they'll punish teams," he
agreed.
As for his encounter with Nielsen on Wednesday, he insisted: "I
think he's a good referee. He's been refereeing for years and has
done a good job so there's no problem there."
Being sent off at Old Trafford would, after all, rule him out of
the start of the World Cup finals.
"I don't think there's any chance of that. I think we'll
concentrate on winning the game and that's it," he stressed.
"It's not nice missing any game, so I'm determined to win and get a
few goals," declared the striker, who made such an impact at Euro
2004 before getting injured against Portugal in the
quarter-finals.
Rooney, who turns 20 in a fortnight, believes his game has
developed since the Euro 2004 finals, having gained nine more caps
and Champions League experience.
"I think I've improved a lot. Signing for Manchester United has
made me a better player, I've got a lot more experience at
international level now, so I want to go there and try to win the
World Cup for England," he said.
"I can't wait for next summer. I'm excited and it's a massive
tournament for anyone and my first World Cup. I'm confident we can
go and win it.
"Brazil are the team to beat in my eyes and, if we do manage to
beat them, we've got a great chance. There's great expectations to
go there and improve on Euro 2004, go further and hopefully bring
the trophy back home." - AFP /dt
