England Supporters Club

Graeme Le Saux: "Rooney's 100 caps is a tremendous milestone"

Posted by Team England at 16:46 on Thursday 13 November 2014

Reaching England caps is a tremendous milestone but for Wayne Rooney, having emerged all those years ago as a teenage prodigy, it is all the more impressive.

Much was expected from him at a young age and that is an added weight that he has had to carry around during his career. He has never known any different, has he?

It is something that he has always had to deal with since that first moment he came on for Everton and his first cap for England at 17. My progression was much slower than his and he has always had that weight of expectation around him. I was still doing my A Levels and playing local football in Jersey at that age!

I think when you look at any player that has reached the milestone, you realise how dedicated they are to their profession. It is a wonderful example of the commitment and that consistency, whether it’s Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole or players before them.

It has taken Wayne something like 11-and-a-half years to achieve 100 caps and you realise the level you are playing at for that period of time. It is 11 months a year, every year, so when you look at the discipline needed to achieve that it is fantastic.

It’s not like you really get a chance to step off the hamster wheel, so to speak, and just say ‘I need a break now’. It’s something you have to deal with but for someone like him, dealing with that extra pressure – it is a credit to him the way he has maintained his consistency.

He has also shown a lot of humility in the press about putting his achievement into perspective. You have your own personal achievements but almost all players would value the team success more than their own success because ultimately you have a role within a team.

For the vast majority personal milestones come afterwards. They are nice to look back on but you rarely have the chance to step back and look at those at the time. There is a fear that you could actually get too comfortable with what you have achieved.

It was also interesting to hear him talk about needing to win the World Cup before matching up to Sir Bobby Charlton. Your ambition is to win every competition you are in and the reality behind that is that you have to prepare and believe you can win any competition that you play in.

If you were to say ‘realistically if we got to the quarter-finals that would be a big achievement’ you would get pilloried in the press! It is absolutely right to say the ambition is to win a World Cup during your time and you set about trying to do that.

There are a lot of unknowns before you have even kicked a ball but there is a potential within the England squad and the players that are coming through as well to be competitive in every tournament.