‘Star’ man confesses he faces the axe after another goalless display.
England forward Wayne Rooney has admitted his place in the squad is under threat ahead of his side’s Group D clash with Uruguay on Thursday, the Daily Mail reports.
Roy Hodgson’d men need to beat the South Americans later this week to stand any chance of progressing from the group after an opening day defeat to Italy on Saturday night.
And after failing to find the net once again, and with Hodgson confident that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be available after a knee injury, Rooney’s starting place cannot be taken for granted.
“I’ve never felt that,” said Rooney.
“Why would I feel my place in the team is guaranteed? I work hard to try and get into that team. I’ve never said my place is guaranteed. I don’t expect to play.
“We have got a lot of good, young players. We all give the manager different options and whoever he picks then I’m sure we will all respect that.”
However, Rooney remained adamant that he made a positive contribution to England’s showing despite the negative scoreline.
“I was involved in the game, could have scored, created the goal and I felt I had an influence,” he said.
Rooney also said that the side know they have to beat Uruguay and are fully focused on the job at hand.
“We need the three points. It will have the feel of a do-or-die game. We know if we lose we are all but out, so we have to be positive.
“We went at Italy, lost two goals at bad times and couldn’t recover. We didn’t get the result but we are trying to be positive and play the right football. We can win our next two games and will give it a good go.”
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