Richard Fleming is a former BBC journalist who has traveled the world covering major sporting events, including two FIFA World Cups, the Confederations Cup, five Africa Cup of Nations, and European Championships in his career of over two decades. He now calls the play-by-play for the MLS Colorado Rapids.
Rooney: An international but not a world class goalscorer
by Richard Fleming
Congratulations to Wayne Rooney on breaking the England goalscoring record, previously held by Sir Bobby Charlton, triggering the obligatory debate as to whether he can now be regarded as his nation’s best-ever striker.
His penalty, against Switzerland at Wembley Stadium in a Euro 2016 qualifier, took Rooney to the half century mark, one ahead of Charlton.
Records, of course, are there to be broken, but it has taken more than 45 years for an England player to match and then pass the feat achieved by Sir Bobby, whose 49th and final goal for his country came against Colombia in Bogota on May 20, 1970 in a friendly international.
Taking a swift glance at other football nations, and Rooney is only joint-43rd on the list of all-time scorers. Reaching 50 goals may make him England’s leading scorer, but he’s well adrift of Iran’s Ali Daei (109), and some way behind modern era scorers like Miroslav Klose (Germany 71), Stern John (Trinidad and Tobago 70), Robbie Keane (Irish Republic 67), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast 65) and Ronaldo (Brazil 62).
Hungary boasted two prolific goalscorers, in Ferenc Puskás and Sándor Kocsis. They were rattling in goals for fun for the Magical Magyars in the 1950s, long before Rooney was even born. Puskás finished with a startling 84 goals in 89 appearances, with Kocsis having one of the best goals-per-game averages in netting 75 from 68 caps.
By the time that Poul Nielsen played his final international match for Denmark in September 1925, the then 33-year-old had managed 52 goals from only 38 appearances. It has taken an England player a further 90 years to hit the 50-goal mark.
In other words, the English goalscoring record pails into insignificance when compared to other nations, and yet much will be made of the achievement. This is, in part, because of how long the record had stood, but also because of who held that record. Another long-held link to a golden age for English football has been severed.
It maybe says much for the dearth of world-class England strikers that his record had stood for so long.
Rooney’s longevity has obviously helped him reel in Charlton’s tally. He is the only England striker to have gone past 100 caps, having made his senior international debut against Australia in February, 2003.
Gary Lineker hit 48 goals from just 80 appearances (he famously missed a penalty against Brazil in a friendly international, which would have equaled Charlton’s record back in 1992).
Other strikers to have fallen short of the Charlton record include Tom Finney (76 appearances/30 goals), Nat Lofthouse (33/30), Stanley Matthews (54/11), Geoff Hurst (49/24), Jimmy Greaves (57/44), Kevin Keegan (63/21), Trevor Francis (52/12), Alan Shearer (63/30) and Michael Owen (89/40).
Don’t get me wrong. This is significant, but only in England, and only for fans of the England national team. For the country which played a big role in bringing the game to the world, it’s about time they came to the party on this score.
Among the nations with players registering 50 goals or more are Hungary (4 players), Brazil (3), Kuwait (3), Iraq (3), Denmark (2), Iran (2), Japan (2), South Korea (2), Trinidad & Tobago, Thailand, Egypt, USA, Singapore and Guatemala.
And so, rather than pontificate over ‘the best there’s ever been’, the question for me has got to be ‘why has it taken so long?’
