Despite some initial murmurings that Jordan Henderson would succeed Wayne Rooney as England's brave captain, Sam Allardyce confirmed yesterday that Wayne Rooney would continue to wear the armband for the World Cup qualifiers.
Rooney's presence in the team will likely become a contentious issue for Allardyce. Rooney does not look like belongs in Jose Mourinho's strongest starting XI at United at the moment, following the pre-seaosn claim from Mourinho that Rooney is not a midfielder.
Despite the opinion of the new United manager, Allardyce has selected Rooney as a midfielder in his first squad.
Alan Shearer was quoted earlier this week as saying he feels Rooney should retire from England duty, and Rooney has today confirmed his intentions to retire: although he will wait until after the 2018 World Cup.
Rooney was quoted at this afternoon's press conference confirming his intention:
Come Russia I feel that will be the time for me to say goodbye to international football.
My mind is made up.
Russia will be my last opportunity to do anything with England so I'm going to try to enjoy these two years and hopefully I can end my time with England on a high.
The jokes were predictable:
