Rooney happy to see Gareth Southgate continue

 

Wayne Rooney has revealed that he is supportive of England’s decision to keep manager Gareth Southgate in charge of the national team up until Euro 2024. After a disappointing World Cup 2022 in Qatar, there are plenty of doubts about the continuation of Southgate in the dugout. Since his appointment in 2016, England have faced a lot of up and downs. There was the brilliant Euro 2020 Championship in which the Three Lions reached the final only to be beaten by Italy. However, the World Cup 2022 placed a lot of expectation on the team and they were unable to deliver the same after an exit in the quarter-finals.

Rooney is aware that Southgate has already been able to accomplish a lot of firsts for the national team in the last few decades. The former Middlesbrough manager took England to the semi-final of the World Cup for the first time in more than 25 years during his first major World Cup – in 2018. Then, England were able to reach the first major final in more than 50 years after going to the final at Euro 2020. Rooney remains as the joint top scorer for England alongside Harry Kane. He has seen various ups and downs throughout his international career. The former Manchester United star believes that Southgate should continue.

“The result alone is not a basis for judgment. Another day, England go and win that game. To me, watching on, it felt a huge step in the right direction. England dealt with the pressure of being in a quarter-final against a team of France’s quality and were very unlucky not to get through.I listened to some of Gareth’s interviews afterwards and he was spot on when he said that England can now mix it with the biggest boys of international football. They can,” said Southgate.