The captain's armband will be given to someone else, perhaps Gary Cahill or Joe Hart. The No. 10 shirt will be worn by another, possibly Harry Kane or Dele Alli. The scapegoat, should England lose, will have to be a less experienced figure, maybe John Stones or Raheem Sterling.

When England take the field against Scotland and then France, Wayne Rooney will leave not one void but several. Skipper, most capped player, record goalscorer, perennial talking point with his decline bringing a divisiveness, Rooney was a focal point, for better and worse.

Rooney's England era began with his debut in 2003 against Australia. It felt as though his omission 14 years later had a finality; Jermain Defoe, three years his senior, is in Gareth Southgate's squad, but Rooney is an old 31 and has gone downhill faster than Bode Miller in his prime.

So if he is consigned to history, what is his place in history? Numerically, it is secure. He is England's most capped outfield player, his 119 appearances placing him second only to goalkeeper Peter Shilton, and their nine centurions can claim a greatness that derives from longevity. Meanwhile, Sir Bobby Charlton's national record of 49 goals had stood for almost half a century before Rooney overhauled it. His tally of 53 will not be overtaken any time soon, and not least because Kane and Marcus Rashford are 48 and 52 behind him, respectively.

But some goals are worth more than others. Geoff Hurst's hat trick in the 1966 World Cup final is a case in point. Charlton scored both goals in the semifinal against Portugal that year. Gary Lineker has a national record of 10 in World Cups. They were men for major occasions and Rooney, apart from his stunning start to tournament life in Euro 2004, tended to be one for the minor matches. His tally of 30 in qualifiers is unrivalled by Englishmen, but he only scored seven in major tournaments, and just three since Euro 2004.

Rooney mustered fewer goals in World Cups than Ivor Broadis and Derek Kevan, largely forgotten figures from the 1950s; he only scored as many as Matthew Upson, seen as a backup defender when chosen in 2010.

Rooney can be seen as emblematic of his time, a footballer whose career explained why England, apart from Euro 2008, invariably qualified for tournaments and then usually disappointed in them. His last such international was the Euro 2016 defeat to Iceland, a historic low when Rooney was wretched. It would be unfair to pin the blame solely on him, but when he was first capped England were becoming regular quarterfinalists: now they have only reached the last eight once since 2006.

A man who stands second in appearances and first in goals might have the individual accomplishments, but not the collective ones. He does not figure in the top 34 in another category: 34 men have taken the field for England in a semifinal. The eleven immortals who won the 1966 World Cup stand apart. But those who reached the last-four, in the 1968 and 1996 European Championships and, in particular, the 1990 World Cup, achieved more when it mattered most. The stalwarts and stars of those sides, men such as Lineker, Shilton and David Platt in 1990, Alan Shearer, Tony Adams and David Seaman in 1996, and Stuart Pearce and Paul Gascoigne in both tournaments, have distinctions that place them above Rooney.

Rooney won precisely 100 more caps than Paul Parker, but there is a case for arguing that the right-back on the 1990 team had a better, if definitely briefer, England career. But perhaps the fairer comparisons are with Rooney's contemporaries. None of the other members of the misnamed "golden generation" played in a semifinal either, though Gary Neville would have faced Germany in 1996 but for suspension and Sol Campbell sat on the bench.

Rooney won more caps and scored more goals than his peers. The damning part might be that his displays in tournament football were arguably worse. Campbell, for instance, feels comparatively unheralded. He was genuinely excellent in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and Euro 2004. Ashley Cole was outstanding in Euro 2004 and reliable in three World Cups. Rio Ferdinand fared well in two.

By and large, the defenders acquitted themselves better. England's failings were often further forward. At times, Rooney was a cause, at others, he was a victim. He can be bracketed with Michael Owen, another who exploded onto the tournament stage as a teenager and was never quite as dynamic again, or his fellow Merseysider Steven Gerrard, although the latter can point to a fine Euro 2012 and decent displays in 2000 (in a solitary game), 2006 and 2010, even if he struggled in 2004 and 2014. Rooney bears certain similarities with Frank Lampard, another who flourished in Euro 2004 and floundered in World Cups. But Lampard went to four tournaments. Rooney went to six. That he only impressed in one and was genuinely poor in three is why his England career offers contrasting conclusions: great in one respect but synonymous with underperforming and underachievement in defining matches in others.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by RICHARD JOLLY

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