Roy Hodgson challenges Wayne Rooney to break record at Wembley
Sunday 6 September 2015 15:59, UK
England boss Roy Hodgson defended his decision to substitute Wayne Rooney before he could break Sir Bobby Charlton's goalscoring record and challenged the Manchester United striker to make history at Wembley.
Rooney equalled Charlton's record of 49 goals with an early penalty against San Marino, but didn't have time to reach a half-century as Hodgson replaced him with Harry Kane in the 58th minute.
England went on to to complete a comfortable 6-0 win and secure qualification from Group E. They now join hosts France in the pot for next year's European Championship.
On Tuesday they host Switzerland at Wembley, where Hodgson expects Rooney to score his 50th goal in an England shirt.
"We're quite happy that he might now get the actual record itself at Wembley on Tuesday night," said the England boss.
"I know that he's going to be very motivated to get that record and I think in some ways that would be a nicer way of getting the record than if I'd kept him on a bit longer.
"We'd planned that 45 minutes - possibly 60 - would be the most we wanted Wayne to play so it wasn't anything spontaneous, it was a planned reaction [to take him off]."
England were already in the driving seat when Rooney made way for Kane, thanks to a Cristian Brolli own goal and a Ross Barkley strike - his first in an England shirt. A goal from Rooney's replacement Kane was sandwiched in between a Theo Walcott double.
Victory was as comfortable as expected against a side ranked 193rd by Fifa, but Hodgson was still pleased his team's business-like performance.
"I will take most pleasure from the disciplined performance," he said. "We realised, especially on a pitch that wasn't quite as good as last year, that it wouldn't be easy with our ball control and passing.
"But it was very important for us to continue the way we wanted to play and show not only tactical discipline, but personal discipline and to come away with a win.
"As it turns out we've come away with a handsome win but it was really important to continue along those professional lines and it was nice we got the bonuses of any early qualification and also Wayne's goal."
