Manchester United and England great Wayne Rooney has slammed the 2010 World Cup as the worst in history.
Image: Jean Catuffe/DPPI via AFP
Wayne Rooney has risked the ire of South African fans after revisiting his experience at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, offering a blunt assessment of the tournament.
Looking back on the tournament in South Africa, Rooney did not sugar-coat his feelings, saying: “It doesn’t get worse than that.” The former England striker was reflecting on both his own performances and the team’s struggles on the global stage.
"We were travelling to the USA game, the first game. While we were driving to the game, it was pitch black, there's no fans there," Rooney said on The Overlap.
"The way you normally go to welcome the fans, it was nothing. It just didn't feel like a World Cup at all."
Rooney arrived at the competition in top form after a prolific season with Manchester United, with expectations that he would spearhead England’s charge. However, things quickly unravelled. England opened with a draw against the United States, followed by a frustrating stalemate with Algeria, before scraping through with a win over Slovenia.
Throughout the group stage, Rooney cut a frustrated figure and failed to find the back of the net. His dip in form mirrored the team’s lack of cohesion and attacking sharpness.
The campaign came to a crashing end with a heavy defeat to Germany in the round of 16.
For England, the 2010 FIFA World Cup remains one of their most disappointing modern campaigns, while for Rooney, it stands as a stark contrast to the high standards he set elsewhere in his career.
After the tournament, it was revealed in the British media that the England striker had slept with a sex worker while his wife, Coleen, was pregnant with their first child, who now plays for Manchester United’s Under-18s.
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