3 Rivers Soccer

Wayne Rooney has not played a league match for Manchester United since February 13 when his team faced off with Sunderland and sustained a surprising 1-2 defeat against the team that is located in the bottom spots of the Premier League. The English attacker sustained a knee injury which will be keeping him out of the playing grounds at least until April and this is a huge blow not only for Manchester United but also for the England national football team.

Even though Wayne Rooney did not have the best of seasons, the contributions and performances that he did manage to pull out was enough for him to be voted as England’s Player of the Year for the 4th consecutive year. Wayne Rooney had a very mixed 2015 as he made a number of impressive performances for his country England as he managed to score his 51th goal at the international stage and broke the previous record of 49 goals which was held by Bobby Charloton of most goals scored for the England national team. The 30 year old attacker also captained Roy Hodgson’s men to European Championship qualification with an impressive 100% record.

Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos has been linked with a move to Manchester United all summer long as the Premier League wants to secure the services of the Spanish defender who is one of the highest rated players in the world and has consistently been performing at a high level not only for his club but also for his country. Unfortunately for Manchester United, they will have to search around for another defensive acquisition as Sergio Ramos was named as the new captain of Real Madrid after Iker Casillas announced his tearful farewell from the Santiago Bernabeu. Ramos has also been included in Rafael Benitez’s team that is performing in Australia as part of the pre-season training. From the looks of it, Ramos will be staying with Real Madrid at least for another season and Manchester United will have to search around for another defender. Marcelo is the vice-captain of Real Madrid, Pepe is the third captain and lastly, C.Ronaldo is the 4th captain.

The former star of Manchester United and of the England national football team, Bobby Charlton managed to score 49 goals during his playing career for his national side and this is a record which has stayed alive for over40 years but it might be broken within the next few months as Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney is edging closer. Wayne Rooney’s latest goal for England was scored on June 14 of 2015 as he helped his national team in defeating Slovenia during a match which concluded with a final scoreboard of 3-2 as England came out on top and it was Wayne Rooney who scored the last goal of the game. This goal of Wayne Rooney was his 48th for the English national side and now Rooney is only 1 goal away from reaching Bobby Charlton’s record of 49 goals and Wayne Rooney knows that he will be able to reach and surpass that record.

Wayne Rooney has admitted that it is very difficult for Manchester United to get over the 2-1 FA Cup defeat against Arsenal. This ended any hopes of a title this season. It would now marked the second consecutive season in which United have ended without a major trophy. However, Rooney says that the club should get over this disappointment quickly in order to focus on the top four race. The Red Devils have a crucial match against Tottenham at Old Trafford. Despite being in the sixth spot, Tottenham are still considered as potential top four contenders. This is because they are only three points behind United. The gap could stretch to six points if United take advantage of their home form and get a victory. Tottenham have been struggling away from home and they have already played a lot of matches due to very involvement in the Europa League and Capital One Cup.

The England national football team did not have a very memorable 2014 as they were knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages after failing to secure a single victory. Even with the early exit from the World Cup, it has certainly been a year to remember for Wayne Rooney as he was appointed as the new coach of England and Manchester United, his responsibilities as a player and a football figure outside of the pitch have increased. Rooney is now even playing in a different position for Manchester United as Louis van Gaal has opted to place him in a midfield role. Wayne Rooney has unveiled details concerning his new position in the pitch as he said that he wants to continue improving as a midfielder but it’s a different and difficult task as Rooney now has to not only think about going upfront in the attack but also aid in the defensive section of the squad.

The winner of the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or will be announced on January 12 of 2015. This is an annual award that is given to the best player and coach of the previous season as they are compensated and awarded for their respective accomplishments. It doesn’t come as a surprise to see that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were nominated in the shortlist of 23 players that are being taken into consideration of winning the prestigious individual award. Diego Costa, KarimBenzema, Angel Di Maria, Andres Iniesta, ZlatanIbrahimovic, Toni Kroos, Eden Hazard, ThibautCourtois, Philipp Lahm, Javier Mascherano, Manuel Neuer, Neymar, Paul Pogba, ArjenRobben, Sergio Ramos, James Rodriguez, Bastian Schweinsteiger and YayaToure are the other players that were included in the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or shortlist.

Michael Dawson completed his move to Hull City a few days ago and now that the experienced defender is not part of Tottenham Hotspur, the captaincy armband is up for grabs but the head coach of the club will not be precipitated or rushed in any way on announcing the new captain of the squad. Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino unveiled details about his plans of announcing the new captain of the squad as he told reporters: ‘’We will decide about the captain in the next few days when the transfer window closes. The past is the past. Football is all about the present and we needed to take a decision. We stayed too much with Michael and I wish him all the best because he is an unbelievable man. He was a very important player for Tottenham in the last 10 years. But football is in the present and this is our decision. We decided with Michael it was the best thing for him because he was not playing regular games’’

The head coach of Chelsea FC, Jose Mourinho has announced that his club did everything right during this transfer window. The Premier League club accomplished their major target which was Diego Costa. Diego Costa made his way from Athletic Madrid to Chelsea with a transfer fee of €32 million. The Spanish forward was the primary objective of Jose Mourinho even before the transfer window kicked off. Costa rampaged through everything during the previous season of the Spanish League as he was the main figure behind Athletic Madrid’s league winning campaign as he went on to score 27 league goals. Chelsea also managed to sign Cesc Fabregas, the former Barcelona man is another high profile player that Jose Mourinho will be in charge of in the next campaign and now the Portuguese manager is confident that with these arrivals, his club is now ready to battle and make a genuine charge at the top of the Premier League.

Wayne Rooney is one of the central figures in the England squad as the Manchester United not surprisingly was named in Roy Hodgons’ provisional list of players which he will be taking with himself for their upcoming international friendly matches but some of those names will have to be dropped before the start of the World Cup. England has struggled trying to get past the quarter-finals of the previous World Cups. It has been over 45 years since the English side has managed on lifting the silverware and even though the nation does indeed have talent spreading around in the entire squad, it has not been enough for them to compete against the teams all over the world. Mick Channon is a 65 year old sportsmen who used to perform in clubs such as: Manchester City, Southampton and Newcastle United just to name a few. With the 2014 World Cup edging closer and closer, Channon voiced his opinion about England but more specifically Wayne Rooney.