Rooney proud to be in England´s top five

Wayne Rooney says he is proud to be England’s fifth-highest goalscorer as he helped his side to a 5-0 win over San Marino on Friday night.

In front of almost 85,000 people at Wembley, the stand-in captain scored twice in the Three Lions’ World Cup qualifying demolition of San Marino, taking his overall national tally to 31.

That record sees him climb to fifth on the England goalscoring list behind Bobby Charlton (49), Gary Linekar (48), Jimmy Greaves (44) and Michael Owen (40).

His second goal on Friday took him past Alan Shearer, Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney.

“Obviously it’s a great honour for me,” Rooney told ITV.

“There’s some great players there and to be in the England top five goalscorers is something I’m extremely proud of.

“Hopefully there’s many more to come, I’m only 26 still. There’s a long way to go so hopefully I’ll score a lot more.”

Rooney’s brace was matched by his Manchester United team-mate Danny Welbeck, before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain netted England’s fifth.

In the absence of Steven Gerrard through suspension, Rooney led England against San Marino and felt the team could have scored even more.

“We created some good chances and their keeper made some good saves,” Rooney said.

“Maybe there was a bit of poor finishing, but it’s not that easy when they put 10, 11 men behind the ball and defend.

“It’s difficult to break them down at times, and we just had to keep the ball moving quick, create chances, and that’s positive. And obviously, 5-0 isn’t a bad result.”

England manager Roy Hodgson was also delighted with Rooney’s input after the striker vowed to put the petulant on-field acts that have marred his previous international games behind him.

“I don’t know if he’s 26 or 27, but I do know he’s still got years of football left in him if he continues and continues to play the way he is playing at the moment,” Hodgson said.

“I thought all the Manchester United players played with enormous confidence, the interplay between them throughout and of course they were responsible for four of the five goals and Tom Cleverley set up Oxlade-Chamberlain for the fifth.”

Asked whether there had been any doubts about handing Rooney the captaincy, Hodgson replied: “I had no doubt Rooney would be a good captain.

“There was never any question in my mind that he would captain the team well but I’m looking forward to seeing Steven Gerrard back in the team on Tuesday.

“We still have some hope that Frank Lampard’s injury is not that serious so that he will also have a possibility of joining us there,” Hodgson added, referring to a knee complaint Lampard picked up in last week’s Premier League fixture for Chelsea.

“And of course quite a few other players who didn’t start the game today which means we go to Poland with a good squad, a strong squad, a squad which contains some players that will be quite fresh that didn’t play today.”