Joe Cole says Rooney will silence his critics.
New Aston Villa midfielder and former England ace Joe Cole has backed Wayne Rooney to perform to his best and ‘deliver this time’ at the 2014 World Cup.
“Wayne Rooney is proven. He will break all goalscoring records with England,” the former Chelsea and Liverpool star told talkSPORT.
“The class is there and I just think he’s going to be the difference now.
“If a ball drops in the penalty box against Italy, there is no other man in England you would want it going to.
“He will come out and deliver this time.”
The Manchester United forward has been criticised for his far-from-satisfactory performances in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, despite having got off to a flying start in his first international tournament, Euro 2004.
Following a foot injury, Rooney raced against time to play in the 2006 tournament in Germany, only to fail to score in the competition and his performances in South Africa four years later were also not up to the level that is expected of him.
Consequently, this year the Englishman has been on the receiving end of criticism from a number of football experts and pundits, one of them being his former teammate Paul Scholes.
The 28-year-old would certainly need to toil hard to prove his critics wrong, and in the process, hopefully steer England to a respectable finish in the competition.
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