• England

I love playing for England - Rooney

Wayne Rooney has reiterated his passion for playing for England and set a target of joining the 100-cap club.

The Manchester United forward dismissed recent claims from QPR manager Harry Redknapp, who wrote in his recently-released autobiography that many English players do not enjoy playing for their country.

"I love playing for England," Rooney said. "It is great when you look at the likes of Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard who all have 100 caps.

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"I am 27. I am pushing 90 caps. We have a lot of players who have turned up every game for England.

"There are times when you have an injury and you can't but there are a lot of players some countries won't have. To still be playing at over 100 caps is a great achievement. Speaking for myself, I love meeting up with England and playing. It is a proud moment for me."

England now face two key World Cup qualifiers at home to Montenegro and Poland knowing that victory in both will secure their place in Brazil next summer.

"We believe we are going to qualify," Rooney said. "If we don't we will have to deal with it. It is as simple as that. The players are all big enough. We know we should qualify. We will take whatever responsibility there is on that. But we are all really confident we will qualify.

"You can look at it either way. The players believe and now we have a full squad. In a few of the games one or two players have pulled out through injury. We have the quality to beat these two teams. You have to be confident and you have to stay positive and believe that."

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