ATLANTA — Wayne Rooney delivered a blunt and damaging assessment of England’s World Cup prospects Wednesday night, warning that Thomas Tuchel’s side faces a serious crisis of structure and cohesion that could bring their tournament to an abrupt end unless the coaching staff makes urgent changes before Sunday’s round of 16 clash against Mexico in Mexico City.
England’s narrow 2-1 victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, secured only through two Harry Kane goals in the final 15 minutes of a match they were widely expected to win comfortably, prompted Rooney to pull no punches in his post-match analysis for the BBC.
“For me there are big concerns,” Rooney said. “We are all delighted England have gone through but in particular when England lose the ball they are so open. Against a better team I think we are in big trouble if we don’t sort that out.”
The former England captain and all-time leading scorer continued with a pointed breakdown of where specifically he sees the problems manifesting across the pitch.
“The connection isn’t great between the backline and midfield, the full-backs are struggling, Madueke struggled,” Rooney said. “There are just no connections and big gaps in the middle of the pitch and that is a big worry for me. He really needs to look at that otherwise we will go out.”
Those are not the words of a pundit looking for attention. Rooney earned 120 caps for England and has spent years analyzing the international game, and his concerns mirror those expressed by numerous technical observers who watched Wednesday’s performance with mounting anxiety. England were disorganized, unable to maintain defensive shape when out of possession and alarmingly open down the flanks for long stretches of a match against a side ranked considerably below them in the global standings.
Congo DR’s Brian Cipenga scored an early goal in the seventh minute that Rooney described as the product of poor decision-making at the heart of the England backline. He had been critical of center backs Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa before his post-match comments, accusing both of “poor judgement” for allowing Cipenga to arrive completely unmarked at the back post and finish unopposed.
The right back position drew particular attention from Rooney, who singled out Djed Spence’s uncomfortable display as symptomatic of a structural vulnerability that could be exposed in a far more damaging way by Mexico, whose forward unit is in outstanding form. Spence was exposed multiple times by Congo’s attack and was eventually replaced by Eberechi Eze, with Declan Rice dropping into a makeshift right back role for a portion of the match, an arrangement that highlighted just how exposed England are at that position.
Rooney went as far as to advocate for an emergency recall of retired right back Kyle Walker, making the case that the cost of ignoring the problem is greater than the awkwardness of making an unconventional late tournament phone call.
“We’ve seen it before where players have come out of retirement,” Rooney said. “I think the minute Tino Livramento got injured, they should have been straight on the phone to Kyle Walker. Kyle’s still more than good enough and more than capable of playing in this England team. I would have been on the phone to him and saying, ‘Listen, we need you here so can you come out and help us,’ because that could really cost us. I’m worried on that.”
Walker has not featured for England since retiring from international football, but Rooney’s point reflects a view that seems to be gaining some traction among pundits and supporters who watched Wednesday’s performance and are already dreading how a more clinical attack than Congo’s would have punished the same defensive vulnerabilities. Whether Tuchel would seriously consider an out-of-retirement recall in the middle of a World Cup is another matter entirely.
Rooney’s concerns are rooted in what happened Wednesday and in what lies directly ahead. Mexico, England’s opponents on Sunday at the Estadio Azteca, are arguably the most difficult possible round of 16 opponent in the bracket at this stage of the tournament. Co-hosts who have played every match at home, Mexico have yet to concede a single goal across their four games, won all four of those matches and most recently dismantled Ecuador 2-0 in a first half performance that was as close to perfect as any team has produced in this tournament. Raúl Jiménez and Julián Quiñones are in exceptional form, the crowd at the Azteca is among the loudest and most intimidating in international football, and Mexico’s home record in World Cup play spans more than a decade without a loss.
The potential path beyond Mexico only intensifies the stakes. Should England navigate the Azteca, a quarterfinal meeting with Brazil, who beat Japan 2-1 in their round of 32 fixture, could await. And beyond that, a potential semifinal against defending champions Argentina, led by Lionel Messi in what may be the greatest individual scoring tournament of any player’s career, looms as the prize for getting that far.
None of those opponents would have allowed England the defensive lapses that Congo exploited repeatedly. Kane’s brilliance in the closing stages saved England on Wednesday, but relying on a single player’s individual class to rescue a structurally disorganized team in late minutes is not a sustainable model against opponents of the caliber England will face from the round of 16 onward.
Tuchel’s tactical adjustments Wednesday, including the substitutions that introduced Eze and Anthony Gordon in the 60th minute, changed the game’s momentum and ultimately produced the winning platform from which Kane finished. But the fundamental defensive connectivity problems Rooney identified were visible throughout, particularly in the first half when England struggled to organize themselves after going behind and passed the ball directly out of play on three separate occasions under minimal opposition pressure.
Whether Tuchel uses the days before Sunday’s match in Mexico City to address those structural concerns, and how England’s battered and injury-depleted defensive resources hold up against the pace and finishing quality of the Mexican attack, will go a long way toward determining whether Kane’s heroics on Wednesday extend further into the tournament or whether England’s World Cup ends against a side that simply doesn’t lose at home.
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