Finally Wayne Rooney managed to get to that magic number of 50 which made him the most successful English striker of all time in terms of numbers.
The Three Lions’ skipper found the back of the net in the 84th minute of the Switzerland game yesterday and with that, he pushed Bobby Charlton to no. 2 in the list of England’s top goal scorers. But, does that really mean Rooney is the best striker to be produced by England ever?
One thing that would always fall in favour of Charlton is that he has a World Cup under his belt. Rooney does not have that in his CV so far.
Apart from that, some of the critics also believe that most of the goals that Rooney has scored have been against weaker teams unlike Charlton who was a big game player and always made the difference for England at big stages.
But, Rooney’s fans would counter it by saying that each goal at the international level holds the same amount of importance irrespective of who the opponent is. And, to some extent, this is the right logic too. There’s always pressure when you put on the England jersey. So, it’s unfair to undermine the contributions made against any team.
Bobby Charlton himself was quick to acknowledge Rooney’s achievement as he told a website the other day, “My heartiest congratulations to Wayne. He has been a brilliant Footballer and deserves accolades for what he has done for England.”
“It’s an immensely proud thing to live as the highest goal scorer of your country. Wayne would enjoy holding this record.”
If you’d have backed Ronney to beat this when he first broke onto the scene with Everton, the odds you could have got at StanJames would have been astronomical!
The strike rates of Charlton and Rooney have almost been the same. The former took 106 games for his 49 goals, while, Rooney got past that record in his 107th game.