The Manchester United striker is on the verge of
breaking Bobby Charlton's Three Lions record but still does not deserve
to be held in the same esteemed company
Wayne
Rooney stands on the verge of making history, with Saturday's European
Championship qualifier away at San Marino providing him with the perfect
chance to equal and even surpass Sir Bobby Charlton's international
record of 49 goals.
In many ways, it would be fitting for Rooney break the record against such modest opposition but, if he failed to find the net in Serravalle, it would be a fair reflection of his fading star on the national scene.
Even if he scores the goals required to become England's greatest ever marksman, though, the completion of the task in such a fixture would paint a telling picture of the 29-year-old's true record at this level.
After bursting onto the scene during his teenage years, the Manchester United striker has racked up 48 goals in total but never reached the heights which seemed to be beckoned by his 18 months as an international footballer. At Euro 2004 he looked like a world-beater in the making but, as the same competition approaches 12 years on, many England fans feel that they have simply not seen the best of their captain.
While 48 goals in 105 caps seems like a reasonable return, a deeper investigation of those numbers takes much of the shine from Rooney's impending achievement.
Since that summer of 2004, in which Rooney scored doubles against Switzerland and Croatia before picking up a foot injury as England exited to hosts Portugal in the quarter-finals, the forward has scored a grand total of two goals in tournament football.What's more, his 48 goals have largely come against international nobodies. Of the top 11 nations in the current Fifa world rankings, Rooney has scored against just two. His 2005 strike in a friendly against Argentina and goals in non-competitive home and away fixtures against Brazil in 2013 are the only occasions on which he has scored against the traditional powerhouses.
Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Chile, France et al have all negated Rooney's goal threat. Instead, the majority of his goals have come in nondescript internationals that have passed by most of the world.
The average ranking of the opponents against whom Rooney scores currently stands at 68.125. To put that into context, Bulgaria – a country who last graced a World Cup in 1998, have made only two European Championships since then and now sit fourth of six in their Euro 2016 group – are presently ranked 68 in the world.
Michael Owen netted a hat-trick in a crucial qualifier against Germany and scored five goals in major finals – including three in knockout matches. David Beckham rose to the occasion in key games against Greece, Argentina, Ecuador and Romania in World Cup football just when his side needed him. Gary Lineker's 48 international goals included 10 in World Cup finals.
While Charlton's achievement of having been part of England's only World Cup-winning side would always have been a steep task to match, Rooney has not even reached the heights of the likes of Owen, Beckham and Lineker in real terms.
"Rooney's a true great but there is a little way to go when you make comparisons as players," said 1966 hero Geoff Hurst when recently asked to judge the Three Lions skipper's record against Charlton's.
"Figure-wise, of course, if he goes above [Charlton] it's a great achievement, no question at all. The only thing I would say is, if you're making comparisons, Wayne is a front player, whereas Bobby Charlton scored 49 goals as a midfield player."
Four goals against San Marino, three against Kazakhstan and two against each of Andorra, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia and Montenegro help to inflate a record which gives a flattering view of Rooney's England spell and, while the same could be said of many players' records, he is lacking those vital big-game moments which make special careers.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, the man who gave Rooney his debut as a 17-year-old against Australia in 2003, left the England manager's post in 2006 with a memorable warning.
"Wayne Rooney is the golden boy of English football. Don't kill him because you will need him," pleaded the Swede. "He's a fantastic player and he has his temperament but you can't hold that against him."
But since his sending-off in Eriksson's final game – the penalty loss to Portugal at the World Cup in Germany – Rooney has seen red on only one occasion. It has not been his temperament that has undermined his England career but his big-game quality.
As his Manchester United career hits an uncertain spell in light of Louis van Gaal's decision to employ him as a centre-forward in a squad which offers few other options, so too does Rooney's international tenure appear to be lacking a certain something.
England look a shoo-in to reach the Euros in France but failure in the finals could spell the beginning of the end for Rooney and, while he is destined to be referred to for years to come as his country's greatest-ever scorer, nobody is more in need of a tournament to remember.
Another disappointment next summer and Rooney will have completed his evolution from potential world-beater to flat-track bully. His legacy needs more than that. England need more than that.
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