• World Cup

Rooney confident over fitness

Soccernet staff
May 14, 2010
Wayne Rooney expects to be at full tilt for the World Cup © Getty Images
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England striker Wayne Rooney insists he will be fully fit for this summer's World Cup finals in South Africa despite being unable to finish the Premier League season.

Rooney limped off during Manchester United's final match against Stoke City with a re-occurrence of the groin problem that has plagued the striker over the past month. However, the 24-year-old insists that his substitution in the 4-0 win at Old Trafford was simply precautionary.

"I'm fine. I went off on Sunday, but the game was won," he told Sky Sports. "My groin hadn't been right. For a few weeks it was tight. There was no need for me to continue in the game.

"I feel good now. I'm fine. I need to get a few more training sessions in before I play but that'll come when we [England] meet up."

England play their first World Cup warm-up game against Mexico, at Wembley, on May 24, then travel to Austria for a training camp and will face Japan in Graz on May 30.

Those two games will give Rooney a chance to test his fitness and as England's talismanic player, the pressure will be on to be ready for the World Cup.

"I've been under pressure and in the spotlight since I made by debut with Everton when I was 16," Rooney said. "That's not really something that affects me.

"I know that if I do well then England have got a great chance of doing well. We've got a lot of match-winners in our team and some good players, so it's not just on me. It's on the rest of the team to do well for us."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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