England v Portugal
Saturday 01 July 2006
World Cup, Quarter-Final
Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen
4pm kick off (London Time)

30 June 2006
VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Wayne Rooney pre Portugal
In an exclusive interview with TheFA.com, Wayne Rooney talks about life with England before looking ahead to Portugal.
Wayne Rooney admits Saturday's World Cup quarter-final is the biggest game of his life but you won't find a more relaxed man in the England dressing room in Gelsenkirchen!

The Manchester United striker, who is still only 20 years old, could be England’s key man as the Three Lions battle to reach the semi-finals for the first time in 16 years.

But Rooney won’t be pacing around in a nervous sweat or even sitting in a corner deep in contemplation.

He’ll just be smiling as usual, kicking a ball around and getting involved in the dressing room banter that is such a feature of this England squad. In an exclusive interview with TheFA.com at England's team hotel he said: "Before a match I just do what I normally do, in the dressing room or at the training ground.

"It’s a good way for me to prepare because it keeps your mind off things. More than anything it keeps me focused on the game because if I sit there thinking about it too much that’s not good, I don’t really want to be doing that. I want to just be relaxed and just knowing what job I have to do.

"It’s the same on the pitch, I just play the game as you see it. You don’t want to be thinking about things half an hour before you are playing, you just want to be concentrating on your football and then go out and try and do it off the cuff."

Despite Rooney’s relaxed attitude there is no doubting his determination once he gets on the pitch - and no doubting how much he wants to beat Portugal four years after being carried off injured in the Euro 2004 quarter-final in Lisbon.

He said: "It’s probably the biggest game of my career if I’m being honest. It’s a massive game. We badly want to win it because if you get to the last four anything can happen and hopefully we can do well.

"I think we have a good chance, we can certainly win the game. Hopefully we can win and progress to the semi-final."

It’s hard to imagine Rooney getting stressed or overly nervous about playing football, it’s just something he loves to do whether it’s in the park with his mates or in a World Cup quarter-final.

And he’s been the same at England’s team hotel, high in a mountain on the edges of Germany’s Black Forest.

He said: "The hotel has been lovely, it’s out of the way so there’s not many people around and its good for the team that they can come here and relax and chill out and keep our minds right for the games.

"The atmosphere is good because everyone gets on really well. There’s all different stuff you can do and especially the day after the game you can see your family and see your girlfriend and that’s helped a lot of the lads, especially the lads with kids who can see them after the game. That’s a plus.

"I enjoy going in the games room and playing a bit of tennis and also a bit of golf on the golf simulator. That and just resting and relaxing."

When you hear Rooney talk it’s easy to forget he is still so young and still such a junior member of the England squad. But, of course, with teenagers Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott in the squad he is no longer the baby of the camp!

That honour goes to Walcott and it’s hardly surprising that Rooney feels a lot of empathy for the Arsenal wonderkid.

He said: "I still feel young but it's good there’s a couple of lads younger than me now, you can see a lot of young players coming through and hopefully a few more will come through. I feel good and I still feel a young member of the squad.

"If I’m being honest it does bring back memories seeing Theo come in. You can see it now. He’s a good young player and you see the press have put a lot of pressure on him from a young age but hopefully he can cope with that and I’m sure he will because he’s done really well.

"I haven’t really said much to him about it, he’s got a good manager behind him in Arsene Wenger and he’s got a good family around him and I'm sure they will all make him aware of that."

If Walcott can make the same kind of progress in the England team that Rooney has done over the last two years it will be good news for the Three Lions. And anyone could do with matching Rooney’s attitude when it comes to playing in a World Cup quarter-final.

"I just want to play football and try and do my best," he said.