The weight of expectation on Wayne Rooney at the 2010 FIFA World Cup was to blame for the striker’s below par performances, claims Sir Alex Ferguson. In four matches, the Manchester United star failed to score and looked a shadow of the player who shone for the Premier League side last season.
He believes the striker will impress at the next FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and he says that Rooney will emerge better and stronger for the experience. “I think there was such expectation on him. There was talk he was going to be the player of the tournament, Don’t forget, that was the prelude to the whole thing – he was going to be the star, he was going to outshine them all – (Lionel) Messi, (Cristiano) Ronaldo. So that level of expectation comes into it. And he’s not got great experience of [playing in] the World Cup really. You wait, in four years’ time you’ll see a different player,” said Ferguson.
By England’s poor form in South Africa, the Scot admitted that he was “baffled”. He added, “That is going to be one of the imponderables – what has really happened and why are they [England] not getting better form. I watched their games and I was baffled by what I saw. Expectation was a big thing. They qualified from a group which you’d have to say was a million to one they wouldn’t qualify from. So it was an easy passage into the finals. Maybe it would have been better if England had been in a tougher [qualifying] group. They’d have earned the right to be one of the favorites and it would have helped that they’d played good teams before they got there.”
Ferguson admitted the mentality of Joachim Low’s team and agreed with those who believe Germany are benefiting from a mid-season break. The Germans have struck of England and Argentina by scoring 4 goals against both the teams.
In last season’s UEFA Champions League, Manchester United was knocked out by a German team, Bayern Munich and the Scot said, “The history they’ve got (in Germany) is quite incredible. That organized mentality they have, the belief in themselves, it carries them a long way. None of the English teams has any experience of playing in a semi-final at a World Cup. The German mentality is ‘we are always in the semi-finals’. Plus the fact they get a month’s rest in January – it must help. All the England team are playing in (the Premier League) so they’re all affected [by the lack of a winter break].”
I wonder if there will be any early World Cup betting odds on this for 2014?
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