ROONEY SAYS HE’LL BE FINE FOR WORLD CUP PLAY

Wayne Rooney has been hampered by a spate of injuries in the past several months, and most recently limped off the pitch late in Manchester United’s final game with a flare up of his groin injury.  On Thursday, he sought to ease concerns that he won’t be in top shape for England’s World Cup run which begins on June 12 against the USA.  Rooney emphasized that he’s fine despite his early exit from the Premier League finale and added that he expects to play in England’s World Cup warm up games as well.

Last Sunday, Rooney took himself out of Man U’s 4-0 win over Stoke City with 10 minutes left in the contest.  He said that was merely a precaution, and that he hadn’t suffered any significant aggravation of the groin injury:

"I'm fine. I went off on Sunday, but the game was won. My groin hadn't been right. For a few weeks it was tight. There was no need for me to continue in the game. I feel good now. I'm fine. I need to get a few more training sessions in before I play but that'll come when we [England] meet up."

Rooney also indicated that he’s planning to play in two World Cup warm up games that most speculated he’d be held out of.  England will play Mexico at London’s Wembley Stadium on May 24 before heading to Austria for a training camp where they’ll face Japan in Graz, Austria on May 30.  He’s hoping that these preliminary games will give him a better idea of where he is physically and what he needs to work on before the World Cup begins.

He also dismissed suggestions that he was under excessive pressure to deliver a World Cup victory:

"I've been under pressure and in the spotlight since I made by debut with Everton when I was 16. That's not really something that affects me. I know that if I do well then England have got a great chance of doing well. We've got a lot of match-winners in our team and some good players, so it's not just on me. It's on the rest of the team to do well for us."

England is the third favorite in World Cup betting future odds behind Brazil and Spain.  The soccer betting odds for their opening game against the USA has England installed as a -190 favorite, with takeback on the US priced at +480.