Rooney could cost us the World Cup
Thu Apr 02 03:16PM
If Wayne Rooney does not learn to control his aggression, I fear it could cost England the chance of winning the World Cup.
Rooney was our best player by a mile against Ukraine, dictating the play and the man who raised the tempo. He was brilliant - and then he nearly spoiled it with one moment of madness.
I am talking about his tackle on Oleksandr Aliyev in the second half, for which a stricter referee might have shown a red card. If I had made that tackle when I was playing, everybody would have said it was a great tackle.
But unfortunately the laws of the game have changed and you just can't do that any more. Of course he got the ball, 100 per cent, but that doesn't matter if the referee deems the tackle to be dangerous - he can and should send him off. You might not like it, but those are the rules.
It frustrates me to hear his team-mates and even his manager say that that is the way he is, and that you cannot take away his passion or try to change him.
If you've got a wayward child, you shouldn't just accept it. You have to try get them to control themselves and relax.
England and Manchester United need to help Wayne sort this problem out, and it needs to start with some discipline instead of always sticking up for him when he steps out of line.
The England fans were cheering him last night, but if he did that to a player from their club they would probably want to lynch him.
If he aims a similar tackle on Gareth Barry at the weekend, the Aston Villa fans who were at the England game might not be so indulgent.
He has to sort it out - he is too important a player to be allowed to undermine his own talent.
Overall, the England display was not great. It lacked fluency and we were lucky to come away with a win.
Our midfield lacked pace once Aaron Lennon went off, and at times it looked like Ukraine could pass the ball through us relatively easily.
A better side would have beaten us last night, and it was telling that Fabio Capello was reluctant to heap too much praise on his players.
Five wins from five is a great start, but Capello knows the performance level will have to keep rising if we are to have a chance of winning the World Cup. He is a realist.
Our results do not immediately make us great, and a good performance can make a real difference, especially in major tournaments.
When I went to the 1990 World Cup, the atmosphere was very negative at the start of the tournament - especially after our draw against the Republic of Ireland, which was an awful game.
But gradually we improved and the mood picked up and even though we lost the semi-final to West Germany, people were pleased with us because we played so well.
As far as the present England team is concerned, there is still a lot of work to do.
What's all this talk of what we require in order to win the World Cup?
"Looking at the England side right now, I don't think we have any chance of winning the World Cup in South Africa next year." - Paul Parker.
You're suffering from England disorder, Paul. You'll go from steadily writing England off, progressing onto mulling over how low England's chances are. Once they've qualified with ease, the euphoria of England qualifying from a medicore group stage at the World Cup itself - probably having Sweden as the only "threat" - will then see you get caught up in it all.
In all fairness, the part about England qualifying for the World Cup with ease is an overstatement. Even under Sven, who had a good qualifying record, they were never totally convincing, at least not to this extent. I'll fully understand when the nation is overcome with expectations.
From geoirkcities on Thu Apr 02 03:48PMWhy is it always about you Paul. Stop reminding us of what "you" did. Get over yourself
From jakimamo on Thu Apr 02 04:00PMUtter rubbish, the fact you talking about England winning the World cup on recent performances shows you have no idea.
Let alone one of the few shining lights we have ruining it.
Under what circumstances can one player, such as Rooney ruin our chances of winning the World cup, especially as he will lpay one of the biggest roles in getting us there?
If you mean by getting sent off...Wrong, he would be just another media scapegoat to put blame upon an average England team performance. Eg, '98 nobody actually believes David Beckham cost us that World cup with his sending off, its was our poor penelty taking (again). Yet, he was the scapegoat of the time, yet came back twice the player.
Paul if you feel it neccesary to try and castrate one of our best players of the passion that makes him a step above, think it through...
From gonesurfin on Thu Apr 02 04:02PMParker really is a tool. If Rooney wasn't aggressive he wouldn't be able to dictate play and increase the tempo as he does. He would just be another player not that bit magic we need to win the world cup, ever thought that bit of agression might see him tackle someone in the corner and then score, will you then say his aggression won us the world cup?
And the annology of rooney and a small bad tempered child is stupid! Rooney does have a bad tackle in him but so did maradona, sometimes you have to forgive the odd rash challenge because what his aggression brings to the team out weighs the negatives. Think about how quiet the crowd are at england games, rooneys aggression is one of the few things that gets people off of there seats.
I used to think you were cool Parker!!
From davidwombell on Thu Apr 02 04:10PMIf i may recall I remember you saying England have no chance?Muppet.
From kuledx27 on Thu Apr 02 04:12PMdoe paul parker have uncompromising pictures of the yahoo sports editor? i cant think of any other reason he is left to write his boring, inane, self-refereential divel week after week
From rufus.gpig on Thu Apr 02 04:15PMAs I said earlier, ROONEY needs to learn in a hard way!Because he has never played for clubs outside England that is why he thinks he can just be BULLY and the pitch! Can somebody recollect what happened in these scenarios:
1. Rooney (England vs Portugal)
2. Drogba (Chelsea vs Man.Utd - CL final & the deciding penalty kick)
3. Zinedane Zidane( France vs Italy)
4. Aerial Ortega (Argentina vs Holland)
5. Javier Mascherano (Liverpool vs Man.Utd -last season)the list is endless, but I forsee England to pay the ultimate price at the world stage/world cup if ROONEY's aggression and hot temper continues like this! Idiot,Hot-headed and a talented bully boy - ROONEY!
From badilawal on Thu Apr 02 04:15PMWith the current line up, there is only one thing that can happen in South Africa, and that is that the England team shall be packing their bags early in the tournament. What do they think they'll ever achieve with that lot of old hags in the squad?
From yozsef1966 on Thu Apr 02 04:15PMHere we go, pick out one man and blame him.... Nothing changes!
If anything, the complete opposite applies. If the rest of the England don't grow some heart and work-rate like Rooney, then obviously he's going to be picked out while the other 10 nancy boys get away with being lazy. Ashley Cole for proved last night how a players Wallet can 'weigh' you down during a game...
From miniroll32 on Thu Apr 02 04:16PMYou almost made my day PP but for just one mention of Manchester United. PP, it seems you are disturbed. Could you sing someone's praise for once (a)without refering to Manchester United (b)bringing up a non-existent terrible side to a story, cooked up by your imagination. (Not necessarily referring to this story but all your articles)
When would Yahoo do an appraisal of their writers? Guess you aint looking forward to that!!!
From djackall on Thu Apr 02 04:16PMParker stop reading the comments people write and then trying to adapt a topic to them. Back before people could comment you wrote good articles, ignore the @#$%.
From trebe123 on Thu Apr 02 04:21PM"Rooney could cost us the chance of winning the world cup?" Garbage. Fact is, we're qualifying comfortably out of what is at best, a mediocre group. Nothing wrong with that, but to suggest that Rooney misbehaving could ruin our chances of actually winning the World Cup is frankly a nonsense when reaching the semi finals at best would be a massive overacheivement...We're still light years away from the kind of football displayed by the likes of Holland and Spain, Rooney or no Rooney.
From royjohn4 on Thu Apr 02 04:25PMComment 6. Awesome. Parker is dreadful. Always running his mouth about rubbish. Every article is poor. PLEASE YAHOO WHY SUBJECT US TO THIS!!
From mark.surridge1985 on Thu Apr 02 04:26PMjust to remind you Mr. Parker - Rooney aint playing this week so he can't aim at a tackle against Gareth Barry anywhere this season
From kaggwa2000 on Thu Apr 02 04:26PMno. 10 Parker is right. You cannot talk about football in england and not mention Manchester United
From kaggwa2000 on Thu Apr 02 04:28PMpaul parker has been, not anymore, stop the sour grapes mate, we need positive talk, not your put me down talk, shame on you, ROONEY IS A LIVING LEGEND long may he play with the PASSION you never had parker.
From jckymalone on Thu Apr 02 04:32PMOh look, Parker has mentioned Man Utd again!! Someone please sack this dreary boring excuse for a writer!!
From brooksie6870 on Thu Apr 02 04:35PMI agree about Rooney, Iv always felt hes a liability, brilliant yes, but every few games he has moments of pure stupidity, for United he seems to be calming, but even so, and especially with england, i worry theres always an opportunity for that frustration, and when rooney gets to that stage hes no good to anyone
From tedbundyisahero on Thu Apr 02 04:36PMI think Wayne Rooney's problem is the same as many players in the game, they just can't stand it when the game is not going their way and so get frustrated with themselves. Eventually they end up showing that frustration towards the opposing players, sometimes even their own team mates( as we've seen a lot in this country over the last few years). Havinhg passion is one thing but controlling frustration is a completely different thing.
From simonfosh on Thu Apr 02 04:41PMkaggwaa@14 just confirms what we already know.U R A tool parker,Rooneys not even playing this weekend!!!!!!
From themadpikey on Thu Apr 02 04:43PMIN ORDER TO KEEP ROONEY AND THE REST OF THE TWO TEAMS ON THE PITCH,
GIVE HIM A GUN....
From angriff77 on Thu Apr 02 04:46PMsomeone take this guys keyboard away from him!
From lynx_400 on Thu Apr 02 04:50PMshut up parker u @#$%
From spuddy_d24 on Thu Apr 02 04:51PMOh dear Paul, you aint got many fans on here.
Someone shout 'Paul Parker, dead man walking'
From treveo on Thu Apr 02 04:53PMYeah your rubbish, Rooney made that game watchable last night as he always does, if your gonna write about anyone it should be that poor excuse of a player Ashley Cole!!!
From lewis5000 on Thu Apr 02 04:59PMwhat right has parker to comment on anything to do with england or football come to that after all what did he ever achieve in his football life all let me think NOTHING absolutly nothing rooney is better than he was or ever would be
From shirleyandtim on Thu Apr 02 05:01PMneed to get rid of ashley cole,
From lyndsay_mike on Thu Apr 02 05:06PMWhat a crock of sh*#e, every succesful sportsman has that agressive winning streak or "temper" but each person controls it in a different way which suits them best. Just because Rooney shows it the way he does helps him be the player he is and give him the urge to play better. As a former pro sportsman in another discipline seing 1 player so passionate and agressive to achieve also spurs your team mates along too. Good on you Rooney and shame on you paul WHO!!!!
From a.bailliesearle on Thu Apr 02 05:08PMListen.....England have no fookin chance of winning anything......player may be good but not world class like Scotland, Spain,Italy!
From mckinnon1873 on Thu Apr 02 05:09PMpp... get your facts right, rooney is suspended for the weekend game against villa!!
From ahmed_al_rawi on Thu Apr 02 05:10PM
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