By Chris Hatherall. Tuesday, 11 October 2005.
Click here to read the full transcription from Wayne's press briefing
Wayne Rooney has warned the rest of the world that he is an even better player than when he took the Euro 2004 finals by storm last year.
Rooney can’t wait to unleash his talent on the World Cup Finals in Germany after England qualified for the biggest footballing event on earth.
And the bad news for England’s rivals is that the Manchester United star believes he is getting better and better.
He said: "I think I’ve improved a lot. Obviously signing for Manchester United has made me a better player and now I want to go to the World Cup and do well.
"I’ve got a lot more experience at international level now than I did before the Euros. So I want to go there and try and go as far as I can with England and try and win the World Cup with England."
Rooney was outstanding at Euro 2004, of course, scoring four goals as the Three Lions reached the last eight.
But he was injured in the quarter-finals against Portugal, a game that England lost on penalties, and the memory of that day in Lisbon still haunts him.
He said: "Obviously I was gutted, I knew straight away that I was going to have to go off. I was disappointed and that makes me even more hungry to go to the World Cup and to win it."
What made Rooney so special in Portugal that hot summer was his amazing self-confidence and complete lack of nerves on the big occasion. And the good news for England fans is that he sees Germany 2006 as the perfect stage to prove he is one of the best in the world.
He said: "I think everyone that goes to the World Cup wants to prove themselves and I’m no different. I want to go out there and try and score goals and make goals for England. I want to try and do the best I can and try and win it.
"Obviously there’s a lot of expectation for the whole team but we want to go out there and do it. We were close in Portugal when we got knocked out on penalties. We were disappointed with that and we want to go and improve and try to improve on that."
In the meantime, Rooney is set to face Poland at Old Trafford on Wednesday after a completing a one-match suspension, and there is no question of him taking it easy just because England have already reached the World Cup.
He said: "Obviously we’ve qualified for the World Cup now so we’re delighted with that. But we want to go into the game and finish top of the group, that’s our main priority. I was disappointed to miss the last game. I want to go out and try and do a good performance and hopefully I can do that."
There’s little doubt that Rooney, who is still only 19, will be a major star in Germany next year and it’s amazing to think how far he has come in such a short space of time.
The teenager admits he ran around his garden in 1998 pretending to be Michael Owen after seeing the Liverpool striker score against Argentina. And next year he could well be partnering Owen to more World Cup glory.
"To play in the World Cup is a dream come true," he said."I’m confident and excited to go there as well. I think we’ve got a really good chance - we have got some great players. We have players in the team who can win us the tournament."
Click here to read the full transcription from Wayne's press briefing