Even now, a decade on from Euro 2004 and those thrilling eviscerations of Switzerland and Croatia, it can’t help but jar when Roy Hodgson describes his captain as a “senior citizen”.
The memories of Wayne Rooney fearlessly bursting on to the international scene remain burned into the collective consciousness, partly because he and England have had so little to cheer since.
But having just turned 29, and on the eve of his 100th appearance for England, Rooney has more than twice as many caps as anyone else in the squad to face Slovenia.
Despite the fact Rooney has been a first-team regular since the age of 17, Hodgson sees no reason why the Manchester United striker should not go on into his mid-thirties, as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard did.
“He is just 29, so, to be honest, players can play so much longer than in the past if they look after themselves,” the England coach said before their European Championships qualifier at Wembley against Slovenia and the friendly that will follow against Scotland at Celtic Park.
“Players do go on a bit longer these days, they get so much better treatment, any injuries which come up, they get looked after and scanned immediately,” added Hodgson.
As long as he remains injury-free, Rooney should overtake David Beckham’s total of 115 caps and is a good bet to overhaul Peter Shilton’s record of 125 appearances. With 43 goals for his country, he stands just seven short of beating Bobby Charlton’s record. As Hodgson points out, if he had been England’s regular penalty taker over that period he would probably have topped it already.
Yet for all that, a nagging feeling of unfulfilment underscores Rooney’s England career. And as Hodgson is endlessly keen to stress, particularly when it comes to his personal bete noire of “shots on target”, statistics rarely tell the whole story.
Firmly re-established as a first choice for club and country and captain of both, Rooney is arguably entering the defining phase of his England career.
After Hodgson likened his striker, before the World Cup, to a Hollywood film star looking to deliver a career-defining, Oscar-winning performance, Rooney – along with almost all his supporting cast – badly fluffed his lines.
They never discussed it afterwards, says Hodgson, preferring to look forward, not back.
Rooney was one of the first players that Hodgson went to see after being given the job, while he was still doubling up as West Bromwich Albion manager. He was intrigued, he says, to see how much Rooney still wanted it.
“I met a man who was burning to play, and that is the way he has been all along. Since he has been made captain, I think he has taken a further step, both at Manchester United and with us.”
But that failure to shine on the biggest stage still rankles. While he has delivered consistently in qualifying, since Euro 2004 Rooney has repeatedly failed to hit the heights in major tournaments due to injury or indifferent form.
“As one of the senior citizens in our team he must obviously see time running out vis-a-vis a Raheem Sterling, a Luke Shaw or a Calum Chambers, who are just starting their journey,” says Hodgson. “I’m sure that does go through his mind but it’s not something we discuss or talk about.”
Hodgson describes Rooney as being in a “very good place”, pointing to the seriousness with which he has taken his additional responsibilities – approaching Gerrard for advice, acting as mentor to younger members of the squad and poring over statistics with assistant manager Ray Lewington and Gary Neville.
If anything, Hodgson fears that the responsibility may weigh so heavily that it will blunt his effectiveness as a player.
“As one of the few seniors left in the team who is absolutely guaranteed a place in the team, the same at Manchester United, I worry the sense of responsibility is going to weigh him down,” says Hodgson.
During England’s travails in Germany, South Africa, Ukraine and Brazil, a surefire harbinger of the wheels coming off was the sight of Rooney dropping ever deeper to retrieve the ball.
But Hodgson has deep respect for that work-rate and for the resilience that Rooney, attracting headlines for the right and wrong reasons since the age of 16, has shown. “I would defy anyone to fault his work-rate, his desire, if they watch the game carefully and study what he does.”
During the Manchester derby, with United a goal down and reduced to 10 men, Rooney could be seen taking instruction from Louis van Gaal and frantically reorganising his team.
“Several times I saw him back in his own penalty box making challenges. That’s the danger – sometimes when players take on responsibility, they take on too much and it’s to the detriment of their own game.”
For all the pride he will feel at reaching triple figures in caps, Rooney would surely swap whatever trinkets he accrues next weekend for leading England to the latter stages of France 2016 and hope springs eternal for England’s long-suffering fans with, extraordinarily, just 7,000 tickets remaining for the Slovenia game at Wembley.
Hodgson is convinced that his much-discussed captain will still go to bed full of the same dreams he nurtured as an 18-year-old ingenu in Lisbon.
“I’m not certain Wayne Rooney is a person who goes to bed at night dreaming of a record,” he said. “I don’t believe he does that. I believe he just wants to keep playing and do the best job he can for England for as long as possible.”
