World Cup 2014: Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney may pay if England exit tournament early

England have a tough group comprising Uruguay, Italy and Costa Rica

Tim Rich
Sunday 20 April 2014 15:08 BST
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Wayne Rooney may have his World Cup recuperation cut short by being asked to join Manchester United’s coast-to-coast tour of the United States.

Should England be eliminated in the group stages of the World Cup, they will return home on June 27. Under those circumstances, Rooney (pictured) and Manchester United’s other England players would join the club’s highly-lucrative American tour which begins in California on 23 July, giving him a summer break of little more than three weeks.

The same would apply to any other of the club’s players who come home from the World Cup before the knockout stages begin. The United manager David Moyes said that the majority of players he was hoping to bring to Old Trafford in the summer would be going to Brazil.

“We have already formulated the time the players will have off, depending on what stage they go out of the World Cup,” said Moyes. On last summer’s tour of Australia and the Far East, Shinji Kagawa was brought in midway, after Japan’s appearance in the Confederations Cup.

Moyes, whose side visit Everton in the Premier League today, hopes all his players can be given a month off . But that may not be possible given the commitments of the club – who will join Manchester City, Liverpool, Milan, Olympiakos, Real Madrid, Inter and Roma in competing for the International Champions Cup between 24 July and 4 August. .

The tour is heavily sponsored and with the game against Real Madrid in Michigan having sold 100,000 tickets, both teams will be under pressure to field their strongest possible sides.

Everton v Manchester United is live on Sky Sports 1, kick-off 4.10

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