Wayne Rooney: I didn’t always enjoy England career as much as I should have done

Ahead of his final appearance for England, having come out of retirement, the former captain reflects on his time as a player for the national side

Wayne Rooney has admitted he didn’t always enjoy his England career as much as he should have because of the pressure he put on himself, but that the special celebratory appearance on Thursday against USA will offer the opportunity to rectify that.

The 33-year-old will come on as a sub to claim his 120th cap and get the farewell he never received on his retirement, as part of a special deal to promote his charity, the Wayne Rooney Foundation.

“I know certainly from my experience that there were maybe times when you didn’t enjoy it as much as you should of, so I’m going to enjoy this,” Rooney said. “It will be emotional, my last game obviously. The important thing for me is to enjoy it.”

Asked why that wasn’t always the case in the past, Rooney said: “I think partly to do with there being a pressure on myself which, obviously, when you’re in that mode you don’t’ want to admit there is pressure to perform. I’ve stepped back from that now and can analyse it that there was that pressure.

Also that pressure on the team, and having that makes you try too hard and makes you a bit too anxious, so you don’t enjoy it as much as you should. You play your best football and best performances when you’re enjoying playing and winning. I’m going to enjoy the game on Thursday, the minutes I get on the pitch. I think it’s a special moment for myself, for my family... my youngest boy has never had the opportunity to see me in an England shirt, so it’ll be nice to have the four boys there and that moment with my children. Enjoy it and, hopefully, we can raise some money for the children which they’ll benefit a lot from.”

“The pressure was fair. Not pressure from the media or the fans. Pressure you put on yourself, which is a different type of pressure. I’ve always been good on focusing on what my coaches want and what I can give myself, but sometimes you do put too much on yourself and that affects your performances. My time has been and gone. Some good games, some bad games. That’s the story of my England career. I’ll take away being the record goalscorer and representing my country 119 times and feeling immense pride doing that.”

Rooney admitted it was a “strange” – maybe nervous – feeling walking back into the dressing room on his first call-up after retiring, and said he wouldn’t have agreed to the appearance if it meant breaking Peter Shilton’s cap record or anything so significant.

“It was a strange feeling. I don’t know if that was nerves or... it was different to what I’d normally do when I met up. Everyone gave me a nice welcome. It will be great to walk into the dressing room and see my shirt hanging up again, and to have that last run out.

“I think I haven’t been in a squad since the Scotland game. Partly through not playing for Manchester United or selected, and then the second part of it through making the decision to retire from international football. So I think, speaking with the FA, we just felt it was right and this was the way the FA wanted to move forward. Also, if I was in a position where this game was going to take the record off Peter Shilton, I would never have played in the game. I would never have done that. But the game isn’t going to affect an outfield player or Peter Shilton in that aspect. So we felt it was a good opportunity to get some minutes again and say a thank you to the fans, but also to raise money for underprivileged children who need it desperately. It was the right decision to make.”

Asked whether he’d shed a tear, Rooney said he doesn’t expect to, but admitted he couldn’t stop himself showing his emotions on breaking the scoring record against Switzerland back in 2015.

“I don’t know. I’m not normally one to show my emotions that way, but when I scored the penalty against Switzerland it was hard to hold my emotions back. There will be emotions inside. If they show on the outside, they will.”