Rooney`s Pride at Captaining His Country.

The New Wembley may lack that wonderful old tunnel whereby you could see the players puffing their chests out as they took the long walk towards the pitch, but appearing for England still sees that familiar look of expectation gracing the faces of the chosen few.

To lead those chosen few out is a tremendous honour and last night that honour befell our very own Wayne Rooney who captained his country for the very first time, in the absence of Steven Gerrard.

Wayne led by example bagging a brace as England won 5-0 and after the match, when besieged by journalists, had this to say about captaining his country,

"It was great to captain my country at Wembley. It was a great feeling and a great honour and something I will treasure for the rest of my life. It was a big difference leading a side out. Normally I have been stood behind a player but to lead the team up and look up and see the crowd and hear the atmosphere is quite a feeling and something I am honoured to do."

"Of course it gives you a taste for it further along in my career. As a player, you want to do it. If you get an opportunity to captain your country, as a player it is something you need to grab with both hands."

"It is a great feeling to have captained my country and it is something that in the future hopefully I will be able to do full time."

Quite a turnaround, after the events of a few years ago, don`t you think?

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.