story about Rooney

Wayne Rooney
Date of birth: 24.10.1985.
Position: Forward

At the age of 18, Wayne Rooney took UEFA EURO 2004™ by storm. Who knows what might have happened if the hugely talented teenager had not limped off the field in the 27th minute of England’s quarter-final against Portugal with what was later diagnosed as a broken bone in his foot. In the first round he had been a sensation, giving man-of-the-match displays in each of England’s games against France, Switzerland and Croatia and entered the quarter-finals as the tournament’s joint-leading scorer with four goals. All this from a boy competing at the highest level for the first time. Rooney has gone on to great things since then, but his, and England’s, luck was out yet again at the 2006 FIFA World Cup when he broke another metatarsal bone in the lead-up to the tournament, never recovered full fitness and was sent off in another quarter-final against Portugal (which, as in 2004, England lost without him on penalties). A Premier League title-winner in 2006/07 with Manchester United FC, for whom he scored a sensational hat-trick on his debut in a UEFA Champions League tie against Fenerbahçe SK, he remains one of the brightest, most unpredictable young talents in the game.