England Coach Confident In Wayne Rooney

Roy Hodgson has assured confidence in his top striker Wayne Rooney to excel in Brazil and maybe score his first goal ever at the World Cup. The striker who is suggested to have passed his peak by Paul Scholes, has been assured by his coach of a place at the World. Hodgson insists Rooney can do with the pressure and live up to the expectations of the whole English nation who are looking up to him for an excellent World Cup.

The coach insists: ''He will do everything he can, I'm sure, to make sure he brings out his best qualities.''

Rooney has a lot to play for, if not for winning the World Cup, personally, he has to prove the confidence of the coach in him and trust of the whole England. The coach started, concerning Rooney by saying: ''He realises what a good player he is, he knows we, as a football nation, place a lot of faith in him. He knows the eyes of England, if not the rest of the World, are on him.

The player himself is determined to make an impact in what could be his last World Cup before retiring from active football, the coach praises his determination. ''The players had a week off and he spent his week off here in Portugal and trained in that time. He  made certain he got off that injury and he said to me: 'When you arrive on Monday and I meet you there, I want to be 100 percent ready to train from the first day.'' A promise he has been living up to.

"And that’s exactly how it was. And of course he is a bit disappointed because I decided to leave him out of the exercise I am doing which involves a lot of shooting because I think I should protect his thigh. If it had been up to him, he would have been in it having as many shots as all the others.

“He is looking very good, very good indeed. We try and individualise it a bit so in the session I did today I left a few senior players or the ones who played a lot of games out but it is only a precaution.

"It was our decision because we are trying to make certain we do not put too much physical pressure on the players too early. It has been a very good three days. If we get the next two days in the same vein as these last three, I shall be very happy.”