England prepared to gamble all on vital Rooney

LONDON, May 24: Wayne Rooney's World Cup dream could have ended on the afternoon of April 28 as he chased a ball against English champions Chelsea with his Manchester United team trailing 3-0 and just 10 minutes to play.

Rooney collided with Chelsea defender Paulo Ferreira, fell to the ground in agony clutching his right foot and hobbled away from Stamford Bridge on crutches.

The forward was told he needed at least six weeks to recover.

Though he seems certain to miss England's opening two World Cup matches, with Paraguay on June 10 and Trinidad&Tobago on June 15, coach Sven-Goran Eriksson hopes Rooney can yet play a part in Germany.

Rooney appears to have made a very good recovery from the injury although his place largely depends on medical advice. Until the injury, he was carrying the hopes of millions of England fans at the World Cup after a rampaging debut in tournament football at Euro 2004.

A teenage sensation in Portugal, where he briefly became the youngest player to score at a European Championship, Rooney has gone on to become one of the most feared strikers in the English game.

Now 20 and revelling in a second prolific season at Manchester United, Rooney's importance to England as both a goalmaker and a goalscorer cannot be overstated.

Blessed with great dribbling skills, real power in possession and a rare ability to either strike from distance or finish coolly from close range, Rooney has already rattled up 11 goals for England in a short but record-breaking career.

In 2003, at the age of 17, he became the youngest player ever to don an England shirt and also became his country's youngest goalscorer.

He made a real impact on the international stage two years ago in Portugal.

Two potentially tricky group contests against Switzerland and Croatia became a breeze as Rooney scored twice in each game to guide England almost single-handedly into a quarter-final against the host nation.

Many believe that had Rooney not limped out of the first half against Portugal with a broken bone in his foot, England's stay at the tournament would not have ended there in Lisbon's Stadium of Light.

Chillingly, a similar injury threatens his World Cup.

Though the fracture in 2004 delayed his United debut after a near 30-million-pound move from Everton, when it came the debut was memorable: he scored a Champions League hat-trick against Fenerbahce at Old Trafford.

The Liverpudlian prodigy has not looked back. He finished that first season as the club's top scorer and this season scored another 19 goals.

He also appears to have curbed the volatile temper that at one stage seemed to threaten his inexorable rise in the game.

Gifted and hungry for success, Rooney has so far shone on every stage. England fans are now hoping that on the biggest stage of them all, Rooney's best is yet to come, even if it is only for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final itself.

REUTERS