Rooney: I cried after being sent off
EXCLUSIVE by ROB DRAPER, The Mail on Sunday
22:00pm 15th July 2006
Rooney: Tears in the dressing room
Wayne Rooney has revealed that he wept tears of despair as he sat in the dressing room following his controversial sending-off in England's ill-fated World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal.
In his new autobiography, My Story So Far - serialised exclusively in The Mail on Sunday today - Rooney says he was initially "too angry to cry" after being sent off but broke down after being consoled by his England team-mates in the dressing room following their defeat on penalties.
The players came over to me, one by one, said things like: 'Don't worry, Wazza, it wasn't your fault...don't be too upset'", says Rooney. "That was when, for the first time, I felt a few tears come into my eyes. I don't cry often. And I hadn't cried when I'd been sent off. I was beginning to feel sad - this time for them, rather than myself. I didn't feel guilty about what had happened because I still felt innocent. But my sending-off had let them down. Because of me, for whatever reason, they'd been made to struggle on with only 10 men."
Rooney insists that, despite suggestions in some reports, he did not try to confront his Manchester United team-mate, Cristiano Ronaldo, even though the Portugal winger appeared to encourage the referee to send Rooney off after he clashed with Chelsea's defender, Ricardo Carvalho.
Rooney says he and Ronaldo will have no problem training together at United next season and he claims that, while he was angry with Ronaldo for encouraging the referee to punish him, he had calmed down enough after the game to send a conciliatory text message to his United team-mate.
Rooney said: "I was disappointed by Ronny (Ronaldo) trying to get me carded and I gave him a bit of a push in the chest (on the pitch). But that was it. By the next morning I was no longer angry over what had happened, or even with Ronny. It seemed that the papers were trying to stir it up, rubbishing him, blaming him.
"They reported that, after the game, while I was still in our dressing room, I had tried to get into the Portuguese dressing room in order to hit Ronny. That's not true. By then, such a thought wasn't even going through my mind.
"What the papers didn't know, and probably will never believe, is that on the coach, on the way home after the game, I sent a text to Ronny. I told him to forget about what happened. I wasn't blaming him for interfering. Then I wished him and Portugal good luck in the semis and hoped they got to the final. And I meant it.
"On the BBC studio panel, Alan Shearer said that when I met up with Ronny again in training, I should 'stick one on him'. I think Alan said that in the heat of the moment. England had just been knocked out and he was choked, as we all were. But I never thought like that, not once it was all over."
Relating his version of the explosive incident in the 62nd minute of the game, when he appeared to stamp on Carvalho's groin, he said: "I honestly thought I was going to be awarded a free-kick. Each of the (Portuguese) defenders had fouled me, so I thought, in trying to get the ball off me.
"By this time, Ronny had run up, though it was nothing to do with him, he hadn't been involved in the incident. He appeared to be telling the ref I should get a card. And then to my amazement the ref was putting his hand up in the air. With a red card. For me. I was off. All I felt was disbelief.
"In being forced back, I had trod on the player on the ground, I realised that. It turned out to be Carvalho. And I was aware that my foot had landed between his legs, which, of course, is about the nastiest place to get hurt, but it was an accident.
"I couldn't believe that the ref, who was so near, hadn't realised that. Perhaps he was too near. What he saw, close up, was the player on the ground and then my foot going into his groin. I'll go to my grave and still maintain it was a complete accident. I hadn't intended to do it.
"If you study the photographs, you'll see that when I fell I had my back to the player. I couldn't see him, or where I was putting my foot.
"If you think about it, if I'd done it deliberately, if it had been a definite stamp meant to harm him, the fella would still be in hospital to this day.
But he was up on his feet in minutes, no worse for wear."
Rooney denies that he has a problem with anger and says that he will not have therapy to curb his frequent red cards. He said: "Another paper said I was going to have anger management therapy. They even named a Manchester woman I had gone to, and was going to see again, so they said. It was all rubbish. I've never seen such a person, and never would.
"Other papers said I was a disgrace, I'd behaved like a thug. Well, that's their opinion. But it's all wrong. Standing on Carvalho was a total accident."
Rooney does reveal that he would rather have played in a 4-4-2 formation than as a lone striker against Portugal but he refuses to criticise former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson for his tactics.
Rooney said: "If it had been my decision, I would probably have preferred Peter Crouch up front, with me behind, but it wasn't my shout. You have to believe the manager knows best. Which I did. I had complete trust in him, that he was doing the best thing in the circumstances.
Some so-called experts have said that my anger on the pitch, resulting in the red card, was all Sven's fault. I had been forced into a role, given too much responsibility. But I think it could have happened at any time, in any match.
Sven wanted to pack the midfield. We all knew, and understood that was our plan. I didn't moan about it - and now it's long over, I'm not complaining. It seemed right at the time."
Some people rely on a malty drink, others prefer a more potent nightcap and many of us still count sheep.
But football superstar Wayne Rooney surely has the most bizarre bedtime routine when he needs help nodding off.
He has revealed that the only way he can fall asleep is to the roaring sound of a vacuum cleaner - and failing that he turns on girlfriend Coleen McLoughlin's hairdryer.
He says: "I've ruined so many hairdryers by letting them burn out. Coleen hates it. She won't let me turn on a vacuum cleaner or a fan, not when we're together."
Rooney's bizarre habit bears the hallmarks of obsessive compulsive disorder - a complaint that David Beckham admits to -which drives sufferers to carry out unusual and persistent rituals.
It is just one of the revelations in the multi-millionaire Manchester United player's surprising and engaging autobiography, being serialised exclusively in The Mail on Sunday, starting today.
Certain to be a bestseller, Rooney's book also gives a compelling behind-the-scenes insight into the World Cup, his on-pitch encounter with United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo in the explosive quarter-final against Portugal and his controversial red card.
He also defends the WAGs - wives and girlfriends of the England team - who caused controversy with their party antics and shopping expeditions in Germany during the tournament. But it is his many personal revelations which will intrigue readers.
Rooney, 20, who was brought up in the working-class Croxteth area of Liverpool, plays down his 'hardman' reputation and says he thinks of himself as 'sensitive'.
"People look at you, and at how I happen to look especially when I'm out there on the pitch, and they imagine they know your character. But they don't," he says. "In real life I think I'm a quiet, sensitive, retiring shy person. That's my image of myself."
The player, who earns £50,000-a-week, also gives an honest account of his now infamous visits to a massage parlour in Liverpool when he was 16 - and had just met Coleen.
He says: "I felt so ashamed that I'd let her down so much. I've always loved her and always will, so why had I done such a shameful thing?
"It's my biggest single regret in life. I can never sufficiently make it up to Coleen - but I have tried and I am trying."
Rooney also reveals that, unlike England teammate Beckham, he has a determined lack of interest in his appearance. He says he doesn't have a particular hairstyle and has no interest in clothes.
"I don't understand those players, and there are quite a few, who turn up in the latest fashions every day. The United players have a go at me and call me a scruff."
Hilariously, he tells how his teammates tease him about his choice of footwear. He said: "I get some stick in the United dressing room because I usually turn up in slippers.
"I have two pairs - just soft ordinary carpet slippers - one from Marks & Spencer and the other just a cheap pair with an England flag on the front bought from the market."作者: lippi 时间: 2006-7-20 22:16
连载预留作者: lippi 时间: 2006-7-20 22:17
连载~作者: 重回RO的恋恋 时间: 2006-7-21 08:34
哦也 - -一饿字哈看伐懂 英文伐及格作者: 星星堆满天 时间: 2006-7-21 08:35
哈长...
幸亏格式好,否则眼睛要搭了一道了
That was when, for the first time, I felt a few tears come into my eyes. I don't cry often. And I hadn't cried when I'd been sent off. I was beginning to feel sad - this time for them, rather than myself.
革命尚未成功,小鲁还需努力.
