Rooney vows to be always available for England duty

With England having already secured qualification for Euro 2016 in France, it will be Rooney's seventh major international tournament for his country and the 29-year-old Manchester United captain has no plans to stop there.

Rooney vows to be always available for England duty

(Reuters)





He equalled the goalscoring record of Bobby Charlton against San Marino on Saturday when he netted his 49th goal for England and is hoping to make the record his own at the Wembley against Switzerland on Tuesday.

Rooney, who scored his first international goal against Macedonia 12 years ago, insists his appetite to represent England remains as strong as ever and he is confident he can continue to lead England till the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

"I won't be one to say I'm not available for selection. I'm sure it'll probably be the manager's choice more than mine. It's a huge honour to play for England," Rooney told reporters.

"I feel I'm capable of going to Russia. After that, it may be a realistic time to see how I feel and if I feel it's not right for England or myself, I'll have a decision to make.

"Or the manager would have a decision to make. If I feel I can carry on, I'll try. But if the manager says he doesn't feel I'm in his plans for the next tournament."

Meanwhile, England manager Roy Hodgson has backed 20-year-old midfielder Raheem Sterling, who currently has 16 caps to his name, to go on to play more than 100 games for England.

"It's a big year for him. He'll have a lot of big years: France in 2016, Russia in 2018, 2020 all over Europe, and (Qatar) 2022," Hodgson said.

"At his age, he has plenty more to look forward to. I'm sure that one day he'll be looking forward to sitting here alongside me with over 100 caps."





(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world