World Cup 2014, Brazil.

possibly more often than anyone who plays against them

 

Well off the top of my head obviously excluding friendlies there's Italy in Euro 2012, Germany in WC 2010, Portugal in WC 2006, Portugal again in Euro 2004 and France in the group stage. Pretty sure he played in all of those, definitely didn't score in any.

 

The Onion's guide to the World Cup is pretty great: http://www.theonion.com/articles/world-cup-teams-to-watch,36253/#1

 

And how many of Rooney's goals came in friendlies or goals against teams like San Marino and Andorra?

 

Look it up. He's scored against plenty of good opponents in competitive fixtures. All the players in that list played and scored against minnows many times, not just Rooney.

 

7, arguably 9 (depending on whether you define Montenegro as good opponents) is not plenty, and bare in mind mind 4 of those came in Euro 2004. Ergo he's scored 3-5 against good opponents since.

 

Yes, Montenegro are good.

Croatia x 4, Switzerland x 3, Brazil x 2, Denmark x 2, Poland x 2, Montenegro x 2, Argentina, Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine, Ecuador.

That's 20 of his goals right there, against teams who are at least as good as bottom half EPL teams. None of those are easy games.

 

Can't argue with that. All those teams are at least good.

 

Lets all bash Rooney who has been more successful at something than we will ever be

You're meant to support your country and I hope Rooney proves the doubters wrong.

 

Croatia and Switzerland fair play, but that doesn't change the fact that 4 of those 7 goals were scored in 2004.

Both Brazil goals were friendlies, as were both Denmark goals, Poland... I suppose you could argue they're quite good. Netherlands, a friendly, Ecuador a friendly, Argentina, a friendly. I'll give you Russia and Ukraine as well.

So being generous that is 13 goals against decent opposition in matches that actually mattered, only 9 of which came after 2004. 9 goals against decent opposition in 10 years is terrible record for a striker.

 

Why discount friendlies? Are they in some way easier?

 

Wait since when are Montenegro good?

 

Why discount friendlies? Are they in some way easier?

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Less competitive, surely?

 

Basa, Savic, Zverotic, Boskovic, Vukcivic, Jovetic, Vucinic.

They're certainly no worse than Fulham.

 

Well sure, but you assume both teams are trying equally as hard.

 

No, Rooney needs to get his scoring record up!

 

So Fulham is the benchmark of quality for good International teams?

 

That's all well and good, but for it to have any relevance to the conversation, you now must do this exercise for Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineaker, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, etc and then wheedle out their 'weak' opposition.

 

I'm using that as a benchmark because it presumes at least equal difficulty to a Premier League game, because that would be an obvious and fair way to judge Rooney's performances.

 

Firstly because they're ultimately meaningless

Secondly there's not nearly as much pressure in them, only when you're playing a select few teams (e.g. Germany) or if it's close to the world cup is there really any pressure, especially when you're a guaranteed starter like Hart or Rooney.

Thirdly friendlies are often used by managers to experiment and try different tactics, formations and players, so you're not necessarily playing against the strongest line-up in strongest formation

Fourthly, players, not just English ones, are often more concerned about not getting injured thus their motivation and effort levels are generally a lot lower than in competitive games.