Misfiring Rooney says he needs to play better after failing to score in 6 England games

Misfiring Rooney says he needs to play better

RUSTENBURG, South Africa — First England was worried Wayne Rooney would be too fiery. Now the concern is he isn’t being aggressive enough.

England’s World Cup opener against the United States last weekend was the sixth consecutive match in which the star striker failed to score. And the 24-year-old Manchster United forward, whose temper was a big fear going into the tournament, has accepted that he needs to up his game.

“I’d like to score, but if I’m not scoring I’ll keep working until I do,” said Rooney, who has scored 25 times in 61 internationals. “I don’t worry that much about it. We’ve got players in the team who can score goals. For us to do well, I need to play better than I did and to score goals, but I don’t feel under extra pressure.”

The opportunity to score for the first time since September for England comes against Algeria on Friday in the team’s second Group C match. By virtue of their 1-1 draw, England and the United States are tied in the standings behind Slovenia, which beat Algeria in its first match.

“Whenever you’re a striker, the worst thing you can do is start thinking about scoring all the time — it’ll happen,” England defender Matthew Upson said. “His movement’s great, he’s a class player and he’s totally gifted. He just needs to relax, play his game and the goals will come. He’s top drawer.”

But maybe Rooney is just tired. He played 44 times for United last season despite being sidelined with ankle and groin problems in the final weeks and a calf problem earlier in the campaign. He scored 34 times in the Premier League.

“It’s a long old season, that’s for sure,” Rooney said. “I’d certainly welcome a break around Christmastime, but it’s something we’ve been used to for years.”

While there is little threat to Rooney’s starting spot, criticism of strike partner Emile Heskey has grown, with coach Fabio Capello telling broadcasters on Wednesday that he is considering replacing the Aston Villa player with Jermain Defoe.

While Heskey remains industrious and Rooney says the two of them can “cause Algeria problems,” he hasn’t scored for England since last June.

“People judge strikers for their goals. If they don’t score goals they get criticized,” England defender John Terry said. “I think Emile brings a lot more to the team than that. He set up a great goal for Steven Gerrard against the United States and had a chance to win the game himself.

“He has seven goals in 59 internationals but what he brings to the side is massive. We really see what he does for the team and sometimes it gets overlooked by people.”

The 32-year-old Heskey is appealing for patience.

“The more you play with any player, the more you get an understanding with them and that is the case with Wayne,” Heskey said. “We work together on the training field and we are well prepared to perform better if we get the chance again.

“I take the positives from that performance and try and take it into training and then the next game. I thought we really got at (the Americans) in attack and created a few chances. They weren’t comfortable with the way we played as we caused them problems and we can do that again.”