England 2-2 Czech Republic
International Friendly
8pm, Wednesday 20 August 2008
Wembley Stadium
Wayne Rooney admits the England players have a major point to prove and are determined to repay the fans by qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
Rooney cannot wait for the World Cup Qualifiers to start next month and wants to get that winning feeling back among the squad following their failure to reach the European Championships during the summer.
The England striker is convinced the Three Lions have enough quality to compete against the best teams in the world and will get things right under new Manager Fabio Capello.
Rooney believes the team will take a number of positives from their 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic on Wednesday night and will get things right when they face Andorra and Croatia in September.
Rooney said: "Before every big tournament, fans expect a lot of big things from players, and the players desperately want to give them something to be happy about. Hopefully that can come soon.
"We always have a point to prove. We believe we have the players to do well in these major tournaments.
"We have not done so in the past few years, but hopefully this can change for us and we can do well.
"We have to take on Andorra first, hopefully get the three points and then go on to Croatia. All the players cannot wait for the Croatia game after what they did to us. We can't wait to get over there and beat them."
Rooney has nothing but admiration for the job Capello has done since he took over the managerial reigns at the start of the year.
The Italian has a proven track record throughout his managerial career and Rooney knows that will only benefit the England team as they look to challenge for major silverware again.
Rooney added: "If you look at his record as a manager, you are going to listen to the things he tells you and try to take them onto the pitch.
"We are playing slightly differently with a different formation. We can still learn and do better."
Teams
England
1 David James, 2 Wes Brown, 3 Ashley Cole, 4 Gareth Barry, 5 Rio Ferdinand (15 Jonathan Woodgate, 58), 6 John Terry (c), 7 David Beckham (19 Jermaine Jenas, 79), 8 Frank Lampard (17 David Bentley, 79), 9 Jermain Defoe (21 Emile Heskey, 46), 10 Steven Gerrard (20 Joe Cole, 58), 11 Wayne Rooney (18 Stewart Downing, 68)
Substitutes not used
12 Paul Robinson, 13 Glen Johnson, 14 Wayne Bridge, 16 Matthew Upson, 22 Theo Walcott, 23 Joe Hart.
Goals
Brown 45, Cole 90+2
Manager
Fabio Capello
Czech Republic
1 Petr Cech, 2 Zdeněk Grygera (12 Zdenek Pospech, 46), 21Tomaš Ujfalusi (c), 22 David Rozehnal, 6 Marek Jankulovski, 11 Stanislav Vlcek (14 David Jarolim, 46), 5 Radoslav Kovac, (3 Jan Rajnoch, 76), 8 Jan Polak, 20 Jaroslav Plasil (9 Michal Papadopulos, 90+2), 17 Radek Sirl, (Michal Kadlac, 76), 15 Milan Baros (19 Vaclav Sverkos, 46).
Substitutes not used
23 Daniel Zitka.
Goals
Baros 22, Jankulovski 48
Manager
Petr Rada
Team Colours
England
White shirts, blue shorts, white socks
Czech Republic
Red shirts, red shorts, red socks
Attendance
69,738