So, Wayne Rooney finally marked his 100th appearance for the English national team and here comes the flood of congratulations including salutations from some well-known soccer pros. One and among first few of such notables is of course Three Lions manager Roy Hodgson who literally saluted the achievement of his favorite forward after 3-1 over Slovenia. Perhaps, the significance is even more lovable for English fans coz it was fourth consecutive triumph in the Euro qualifiers for the English manager hence he was even over exaggerated over the feat of his captain. If we talk about the match, Slovenia took the initial lead but their joy did not live for long as Rooney equalized the score in no time. With this feat, Rooney has enrolled his name along with eight players played for so long for the England along with being the third highest scorer for the national side. The match was itself one of the most awaited for English fans therefore everyone was talking about when it would finally happen and media had been highlighting this day since last one week to increase their viewership, and rightly so, every sports newspaper also got a maximum sale after this achievement of Manchester United’s skipper.
Praising the success of his star forward, Hodgson said after the game, “It was a wonderful evening for him. He’s very important to me and to English football. It was fitting tonight he was able to really get his reward on the night when it’s all about him. He picks up the cap, but also scores the important first goal and leads England to victory. We’re delighted for him.
“It was a fine piece of play by Jack Wilshere to set it up, but it was a very good run from him into the box and that put us right back in the game.”
Adding about the course of the game, he further said, “I thought in the first half we dominated, but it was a little bit sterile at times because we weren’t getting the penetration we were looking for and we weren’t creating the clear-cut chances. But it would be very churlish to sit here after a 3-1 victory to start criticising the team because in the first half they didn’t reach the heights.
“It was a nice chance because the England team does have some problems and we couldn’t be clinical.”