Wayne Rooney flopped because of focus on scoring his first World Cup goal: David James

England goalkeeper David James has said that ace striker Wayne Rooney flopped at the World Cup because he was too focused on scoring his first World Cup goal and talked about nothing but the game for weeks in South Africa.

"If I can be blunt, I think Wazza's problem was that he wanted success too much. He sleeps, eats and drinks football and is completely obsessed by it - and perhaps he was just too focused," James said.

"There was never a question that he was hugely motivated and never wanted to play at anything less than his best, but I think he was too hungry. It sounds really strange because you would think players get criticised for not being focused enough - but the opposite was true in Wazza's case," James told The Sun.
 
James said that there was no England player who's come away from that tournament feeling happy about anything, but it's probably even worse for Rooney.

Rooney, 24, was named the Professional Footballers' Association Player Of The Year in April and was expected to be in peak form in South Africa after returning from an ankle injury.

Fans had expected him to be England's most potent attacking weapon but he failed to capitalise on a string of chances and break his World Cup scoring duck.

He even appeared to have lost the ability to control the ball for spells during matches as his frustration boiled over.

James said: "He had had another one of his terrific seasons for Manchester United and when you've got someone that good, it makes it harder to advise them. It's easy when you're talking to someone who's not so good because you can say, 'Why don't you take the edge off it a bit and be a bit more like him?'"