Chapter 575 My Era

In the latest list of the England national team, there is a name that has attracted much attention.

Wayne Rooney!

The England super striker who once fought side by side with Ronaldo has played for the country at the age of 17 and was once called the youngest England international.

If Rooney plays in the match against Costa Rica, he will complete his 120th game.

However, as the game approaches, the debate about whether Rooney should be selected for the new England national team has been raging in various media in Great Britain.

Former England goalkeeper Hilton made it clear that Southgate's decision to recruit Rooney into the national team again was absolutely wrong. This attracted many people to agree.

After all, Rooney announced his retirement from the national team last year, so the debate about Southgate using this game as Rooney's farewell match for the national team began to appear frequently.

But in the eyes of the vast majority of English fans, especially those who are a little older, Southgate's decision this time is full of humanity and absolutely correct, which is also recognized by many current England internationals.

England's current goalkeeper Pickford praised Rooney, saying that he was the best striker in England's history, and that he still maintained a pretty good state even at the end of his career.

At the same time, England's main striker Kane also expressed the same view as Pickford, believing that Rooney deserved the opportunity to complete his 120th appearance for the national team.

In the eyes of coach Southgate, there is no problem with his decision to recruit Rooney, and he will also get the support of other internationals in the team.

But Southgate also gave a shot in advance to those who were paying attention to this matter, and also left a way out for himself, because he later said that Rooney would not get any extra care in this game.

At the same time, Southgate also made it clear that he would not let Rooney enter the starting lineup, and the No. 10 jersey he had been wearing before belonged to Li Qing.

As for whether Rooney would get the captain's position on the field after he came on the court, it depends on the decision of other players, and he will not interfere with it.

Southgate's statement naturally made many fans who were looking forward to this game because of Rooney feel very dissatisfied.

Because the current No. 10 jersey of the England national team belongs to Liverpool's talented player Li Qing most of the time.

This Liverpool player, who is in the limelight, has proved that he deserves this number jersey with his performance, but in the eyes of fans, it is just a friendly match, and it is also the curtain call of the senior national team veteran who plays the same position as himself. It should not be difficult for Li Qing to give up his number.

And as we all know, although coach Southgate has no decision-making power on this, if the players do not realize this, he can completely make Li Qing give up the jersey by indirect means.

After all, since Southgate has withstood so much pressure and called Rooney into the national team again, why can't he do things more perfectly?

Is it so difficult to let a generation of legends play in the No. 10 jersey of the Three Lions for the last time and write a period for this legendary story?

But just when everyone was talking about it, Liverpool received news that Li Qing had cold symptoms during the team's physical examination and could not participate in the match against Costa Rica on the 15th.

After learning the news, fans of England and Liverpool were shocked and immediately expressed their condolences and inquiries to the talented player in various ways.

In this way, the ownership of England's No. 10 jersey was perfectly solved. It was just a pity for the fans that Li Qing and Rooney, both talented shooters, could not appear on the field at the same time.

But what no one knew was that before the friendly match between England and Costa Rica started, a young man wearing a mask and brown glasses and a beautiful girl wearing glasses entered the stadium box early.

As soon as Tong Shenbing entered the box, she took off her glasses and couldn't help complaining to Li Qing who followed her in: "Why do you have to be so sneaky? It's too boring for the two of us to be in such a big box!"

Li Qing flashed into the box, locked the door, and smiled at his girlfriend with a flattering face: "Auntie, please keep your voice down. I am injured now. If people know that you and I are here, it will be troublesome!"

"You are obviously fine, why are you pretending to be sick?" Tong Shenbing looked unhappy, "There is still a game and you are not playing. I don't understand why you ran so far to watch!"

"Isn't this for our world of two people!" Li Qing licked his face and approached Tong Shenbing, "Your husband is also a national player. Since you choose to be my wife, of course you have to watch the game with me!"

"Who is your wife, ah..."

In the box, Li Qing and Tong Shenbing laughed and joked. Banners had been hung outside the box, and the staff began to prepare for the game.

Because this friendly match is a farewell match for Rooney, all the proceeds from the match will be donated to the Rooney Charity Foundation.

In this game, Rooney did not have any tricks, but many of England's absolute main players, including Kane, Sterling and Walker, did not start.

Newcomers such as Denko and Wilson started for England for the first time, and young Sancho also started for England for the first time. The starting players of the entire England team only played for England no more than 50 times in total.

So in this game, Southgate was obviously just training and testing new players, but the performance of these new players on the field was indeed eye-catching enough.

From the beginning of the game, the young players of England began to put pressure on the opponent. If it weren't for the opponent's goalkeeper's heroic performance, England could have scored two goals in the first ten minutes.

However, hard work pays off. After more than 20 minutes of fierce battle, the young players of England finally broke the deadlock by Manchester United's Lingard. Then Li Qing's teammate Arnold received Sancho's pass and scored another goal with a low shot in the far corner.

After seeing his teammates score, Li Qing in the box happily hugged his girlfriend.

The subsequent game was basically under the control of the England team. Rooney came on as a substitute in the second half, and the whole stadium was boiling. Seeing the cheering fans outside, Tong Shenbing smiled at Li Qing playfully: "I finally know why you pretended to be sick."

Li Qing raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked at his girlfriend. Tong Shenbing chuckled and tapped her boyfriend's nose, "You don't want the person who is on the field now to steal your limelight."

Hearing Tong Shenbing's words, Li Qing laughed dumbly and shook his head: "His era is over, and my era has come!"