Yorke: England are too reliant on Rooney.
By: Darren Lewis (mirrorfootball).
Dwight Yorke has dismissed England’s World Cup chances and says they rely far too much on Wayne Rooney.
The ex-Manchester United striker was in the Trinidad and Tobago side that held England for 83 minutes during the group stages four years ago in Germany and insisted most teams cannot wait to face Fabio Capello’s men.
Goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard spared England’s blushes on that occasion before Sven Goran Eriksson’s men were bundled out on penalties by Portugal in the quarter-finals.
Speaking at a charity golf day held by his former United strike partner Andy Cole, Yorke believes there is too much pressure on Rooney to carry England to glory.
He said: “You need him to relax instead of saying: ‘We have Wayne Rooney - this and that’. Yes we know he is easily one of the best players in the world, if not the best player in his position right now.
“But why put all that expectation on a 24-year-old guy? Especially when you’ve got the likes of Gerrard and that all around him. It’s a collective team.
“England are supposed to do better with the calibre of players they have and I just feel the approach is always a little bit wrong.
“You’ve had a good campaign so far and everyone is getting a little bit excited. But when the World Cup comes around it's a different prospect.
“I keep hearing all these debates about who is going to partner Rooney. But it's not about that. You don’t have to have a big and a small player to be successful.
“It’s about picking the right formation, picking the right team and getting people playing in the right areas. Getting the team playing in a way that makes them likely to win a football match at a very crucial time.”
Yorke says history could yet again repeat itself - despite nine wins out of ten in qualifying under Capello.
He said: “I’m not convinced [about England], no. I’m not going to get carried away.
“Capello has done a fine job. We all know that. A better job than any of the previous managers. We all acknowledge that.
“But for a number of years since 1966 we’ve always said that England have had a good chance and, with the team that they have now, of course they are supposed to have a good chance.
“But they haven’t delivered. And it will be no different in my opinion this time around.
“England will cruise through the first round and get to the quarter-finals, but they never go past that stage.
“I suppose everybody will point to the players England have got and the fact that the Premier League is the best league in the world. But we all know that. Everybody knows who England’s big players are.
“But teams prepare properly against England. I’ve had the experience of doing that.
“It doesn’t come as a surprise to me that everyone is optimistic about England winning the World Cup. When do they ever go into a World Cup NOT expected to win it?”
England open their campaign against the USA on June 12 and then face Algeria and Slovenia.
But although they are widely expected to top their group, Yorke has warned that even their Group C opponents will be pumped up to take advantage of the weight of expectation on Capello’s men.
He added: “Teams have a five-week period where they prepare for this. England are the team that everyone wants in their group.
“The attitude of the players is 100 per cent different to other teams because they know, if they do well against England, just how rewarding that will be.
“Against Trinidad and Tobago four years ago, England expected to win and all the expectation was on them. But we had a game plan and we made it extremely difficult for them.
“We had prepared thoroughly for England. If you can frustrate them then, not only do the players get tense, but the atmosphere in and around the stadium becomes tense.
“We know how the fans are and how passionate they are about England. So we knew that if we could keep them quiet for a long period of time then everyone would be tense and that happened with the players too.”
The Andy Cole Golf day at The Grove, Hertfordshire raised vital funds for youth charity The Prince’s Trust.
Sixteen celebrity teams took part to raise the cash. Yorke added: “It's a fantastic cause. Andy’s a great friend and I wanted to support him in his role as a Prince’s Trust ambassador. It's just like old times at United.”
