Wayne Rooney has opened up on hiding an injury from his England teammates as he feared that it would rule him out of the World Cup.
England's all-time record goal scorer netted 53 times across 120 appearances for the Three Lions but each of his three World Cup campaigns for his nation ended underwhelmingly – being part of the 'golden generation' that somehow failed to get past the quarter-finals.
Rooney – who is now managing MLS club DC United and has given tournament advice to the USMNT, who are in England's group this month – has described his playing experiences at the World Cup throughout his career, which had no shortage of challenges.
One of his nation's greatest-ever players, Rooney was part of a team that was edged out by Portugal on penalties in the last eight of the 2006 tournament, before a Round of 16 exit to Germany in 2010 and a hugely disappointing group stage elimination four years later.
Yet it was the 2006 tournament that generated the most anticipation from an England viewpoint as they were among the favourites to lift the trophy with Rooney – who had featured at the European Championships two years earlier – seen as the main attacking talent in a star-studded team.
However, Rooney suffered a metatarsal injury while playing for Manchester United at Chelsea and underwent an intense recovery programme to return to fitness on time for the World Cup, which was due to get underway a month later. Having returned in time for squad selection, he sustained a fresh injury in an England training camp in the build-up to the tournament in Germany.
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"When I did return to training, at the practice ground England used in Buhlertal, we were jogging around the pitch for the warm-up and there was a ball," Rooney wrote for the Times. "I couldn't resist. I pinged it, trying to strike the crossbar from the halfway line, and felt my groin go straight away. I couldn't report the injury to Sven — my World Cup would be over — and I didn't tell any of the players. Only one other person in the camp knew."
The former forward continued: "I took painkillers and kept going and hoped that on matchdays adrenaline would get me through. I managed half an hour in our second match, against Trinidad & Tobago, and before our final group game, against Sweden, which was my first start of the tournament, I had some work on the injury, but it bled and my whole thigh went black. I had to hide it from everyone in the dressing room. When I finally had the injury scanned, there was a six-centimetre tear."
Rooney's debut World Cup, hampered by injury throughout, ended dramatically as he was sent off against Portugal ahead of a penalty shootout, with United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo – an opponent for Portugal that day – among those demanding the forward’s dismissal after a stamp.
