Positive thinking got me over injury, says Rooney

IF ENGLAND are now perceived by everyone else as a one-trick pony, it is a reputation founded largely on the lamentations of Sven-Goran Eriksson and his squad over the absence of Wayne Rooney from the early part of the World Cup.

In a way, the wailing of the manager and his players over the injury that threatened to keep the Manchester United striker out of the tournament entirely is forgivable. Even a few minutes in Rooney's company is sufficient to confirm that his voracious appetite for the game stems not so much from zest as lust.

As he ruminated yesterday on an epic that began when he fractured a metatarsal against Chelsea on 29 April, it was immediately apparent that it was this virtually uncontrollable urge to be on the field of play - as opposed to playing the tortuous role of passive bystander - that propelled Rooney through his recuperation and rehabilitation.

Having played part of the second and third matches in Group B and started and finished the last-16 game against Ecuador last Sunday night, the 20-year-old prodigy has arrived once again at that point where he is expected to be the main thrust of England's assault on Portugal in the quarter-final match in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday.

"While I was working in the gym trying to recover, there was football on the telly and it was horrible to watch, because you just want to be playing," said Rooney. "When I got the injury, I didn't think immediately of the World Cup. I was playing for Manchester United and we'd just lost the league that day.

"But, later, there was a time when I didn't think I'd be here at all. I knew when it happened that I'd done something bad, but the initial X-ray showed nothing. It was the scan later that showed a small fracture and when I was told that, I was gutted. It was a bad time to get injured.

"But then all I wanted to do was get fit.

I never let a negative thought come into my mind. It helped me not to get down that I was going into training every day with Alan Smith, who was doing the same as me, trying to recover from a long absence. We worked together and it would probably have been a lot harder being on my own."

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was understood to be concerned during that period of rehabilitation that Rooney would be rushed back into action in time for the World Cup. Yesterday, though, the striker insisted he's had nothing but support from the Scot.

"I've spoken to him a few times," said Rooney when asked if Ferguson had been in touch in the past couple of weeks. "He just wishes me luck and hopes I do well for the team. He's been very supportive from day one. He's always wanted me to play in the World Cup and now that I am, he's really happy for me."

The powerful surges Rooney executed in the last 20 minutes of the match against Ecuador suggested that his strength and stamina are just about topped up, although he admits that it takes a little longer for the ball control to return to previous levels of excellence.

Nevertheless, he will be the focus of every English supporter - and, doubtless, of a few nervous Portuguese - on Saturday, when facing the opponents against whom he broke a metatarsal for the first time at Euro 2004. He will surely, too, receive some attention from uncompromising defenders.

"I've had a few kicks in the games I've played so far," he said. "I'm sure it'll happen again, but you have to stay cool. I think I can last the 90 minutes, or even 120 if it goes to extra time. But that will be up to the manager. If he sees me tiring, he'll take me off. If not, he'll keep me on."