England 3 USA 0: Three Lions cruise to comfortable win as Wayne Rooney plays 120th and final game
Jesse Lingard, Trent Alexander-Arnold and debutant Callum Wilson scored for Gareth Southgate's side
WHAT a way to send the old boy off.
England, the England team Rooney is reluctantly leaving behind after 120 caps, really is fearless.
The new kids on the block were out to impress, to show off some of the skills Rooney has been drooling about this week.
They did just that.
Along with guts, Gareth Southgate has added guile.
A 17-year-old Wazza, the monster who threatened to rip up the rulebook when he made his debut way back in 2003, would love to be a part of this.
THANK ROO AND GOODNIGHT - WAYNE BOWS OUT
He got there in the end, summoning his joints one last time to come off the substitutes bench 11 minutes into the second half.
Jesse Lingard, scorer of England’s peachy opener in the first half, happily made way for his old Manchester United mucker.
Fabian Delph, captain for the night, raced over to him to give him the armband as 68,155 inside Wembley rose to salute the country’s record goalscorer.
Awash with emotion it was not, but this was still very much Rooney’s special night.
By then the team he leaves behind were 2-0 up, with Liverpool kid Trent Alexander-Arnold scoring his first for his country with a quality strike from out on the right.
It was a respectful and dignified farewell, with England’s players putting a smile on his face by tearing into this dilapidated USA side.
Callum Wilson, thrust into the team to make his England debut, scored the third after 77 minutes.
Good on him for that.
England's nearly man Wayne Rooney endures another 'nearly' night for Three Lions
By DAVE KIDD
SOMEHOW it seemed fitting that he didn’t quite get that Hollywood ending.
In the first minute of injury-time, Wayne Rooney turned his marker inside out like the glory days, only for United States keeper Brad Guzan to plunge low for keep out his shot with a smart save.
And then, in virtually the last action of his final international match, Rooney flung himself at a cross from Jadon Sancho and couldn’t quite connect, leaving him to smile ruefully.
Sancho, the 18-year-old Borussia Dortmund winger had been only two years old when Rooney made his England debut back in 2003, so it would have been a silver-screen finale if the old stager had stuck that one in the onion bag.
But there were plenty of ‘if onlys’ during Rooney’s 120 caps. For all those record 53 goals, his was an ultimately unsatisfying career.
The new breed have some of Rooney’s old traits, the habits top pros pick up as they are making their way in the game.
Jesse Lingard and Trent Alexander-Arnold, England’s two goalscorers, plus Dele Alli, Jadon Sancho, Harry Winks and Wilson were out to impress.
If this was an audition to one day fill his boots, then Dele would probably shade it.
The Tottenham man, who has always struggled to convince under Southgate, was superb out there.
Rooney was lapping it up, clapping wildly from the sidelines when Lingard scored a pearler from just outside the area.
The next generation are not bad.
This was Lingard’s third England goal, a carbon copy of the beaut he scored against Panama at the World Cup.
This was a commanding England performance against a truly dreadful USA side.
With the exception of Christian Pulisic’s magnificent first half spin, leaving four England defenders for dead, USA offered zip.
England were far too good for them, with the youthful endeavours of Dele, Sancho, Winks and Lingard adding the experience of Fabian Delph.
England’s captain was exceptional, a commanding presence in the centre of their midfield.
His confident backheel in the first half, making the sweetest of connections to send it first time back to England’s defence, was a classy touch.
They simply had too much for our friends from across the pond.
England were ahead after 25 minutes, with Ben Chilwell and Dele Alli combining out on the left to open up this USA defence.
Two minutes later they got another, with Dele, Callum Wilson and then the clever assist from Sancho to set the chance for Alexander-Arnold.
He hit his effort with piercing precision, fading his effort inside Guzan’s far post.
England were up and running, putting on a show for Rooney as he made his way down the touchline to warm up.
Everybody here wanted to see him in that iconic England No10 shirt one last time.
They were in the mood for goals.
Wilson, making his debut up front, should have had a penalty when he was hauled down by Guzan.
Dele, one of England’s stand-out performers, knows he should have put England ahead when he connected with Lingard’s cross.
He miscued, with his effort spinning wildly away.
The chances were piling up, with a steady supply line from the boots of Lingard, Sancho and Dele. All three were excellent.
They were made to wait for the third, settling down again after all the pomp and ceremony of Rooney’s introduction.
It took a while for England to adjust, with Southgate sending him out left at first, then right, then into a more withdrawn midfield role.
He was sent into more familiar territory for the final ten minutes, the main man again after Wilson made way.
The Bournemouth boy had got his goal, tapping in smartly from close range after a well-worked move.
Alexander-Arnold, substitute Eric Dier and Delph, waiting out on the left, stitched together the 75th minute move.
Wilson was waiting, making his move to the near post to connect with Delph’s cross.
He left the field a few moments later, with Southgate ruffling his hair after a decent start to his England career.
For Wilson, 26, this is just the start.
This is the end game for Rooney, his final appearance for his country after an eventful, colourful and ultimately successful career.
To have 15 years as an England player commands respect, one of very few players who could make a case for a farewell appearance.
He did not get the goal he wanted, with Guzan denying the fairytale finish with a decent stop in injury time.
Even so, this is still a Special Relationship.