Rooney - How dare he?

For a man who reportedly earns £90,000 a week, and who's agents are reportedly looking for a £200,000 a week deal from Manchester Utd, Wayne Rooney should expect to take the rough with the smooth.  Nobody is more idolised when he plays well, and scores goals...but after a personal performance like that, one of a host of dreadful performances from those in the white of England, he frankly needs to take the criticism and shut up.

At the end of the game he stalked off field to jeers from the English crowd. He then finds a camera and delivers what appeared to be a fairly calm statement - "Nice to see your own fans booing you. Is that what loyal support is... for f---'s sake."

Hopefully Rooney woke up this morning understanding that English fans, the vast majority of whom will earn less in a year than he currently does in about 3 days, have a right to voice their displeasure.  Remember that phrase - England Expects.  Often we expect too much, but the thousands of fans who traveled thousands of miles and paid thousands of pounds (that they probably don't have!) to watch him and his mates go for an evening stroll, occasionally interrupted by a poor touch of the football, have the right to feel aggrieved.

He did issue an apology this morning - "I said things in the heat of the moment out of frustration of our performance and the result," he said in a Football Association statement.  "For my part I apologise for any offence caused by my actions."

Hopefully he understands, too, that loyalty runs both ways.  The great thing about football is that, come Wednesday, with the right result and the right performance, all things will be forgiven.

After all, if you are looking for some crumbs of comfort, the last time England got to the semi-finals of a World Cup in 1990, they also drew both their opening games and were massacred by the press and fans. They then went on to win their group; and the scores were the same. The first game was a 1-1 draw vs Republic of Ireland, followed by a 0-0 draw against the Netherlands, before  a 1-0 win against Egypt. We went on to beat Belgium 1-0 in the last 16, before beating Cameroon 3-2 after extra time in the quarter finals...before the infamous battle with Germany and a loss on penalties... 

We'll take the same again, except for the loss to Germany!