Time to stop pointing finger of blame at selfless whipping boy Wayne Rooney

Instead, Rooney became the story.He started off playing on the left side in England’s opening game against Italy, and set up Daniel Sturridge for an equaliser; he moved to a central position against Uruguay, and although he scored, England lost the game and were out of the tournament.Jose Mourinho told Yahoo! Eurosport at the time that Rooney’s best position is in the centre. "I don’t think it [playing left] is the best position for Wayne," he said, "but I think many, many times players must do sacrifices for their team."More than most players, Rooney has made those sacrifices: notably, during the 2008-09 season when he played second fiddle to Cristiano Ronaldo – in fact, between 2006 and 2009, when United won three Premier League titles in a row, Rooney scored a total of 38 league goals while Cristiano Ronaldo scored 66. It was the same story in 2012-13, Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season as Manchester United coach. Rooney scored 12 goals; new signing Robin van Persie, 26 goals.Since he was appointed captain of Manchester United and England within the space of a few days last month, the Rooney debate has intensified.In the 2-0 win against Switzerland in England’s opening European qualifier, Rooney didn't have to make sacrifices for the team - chiefly because of the absence of Daniel Sturridge through injury. Sturridge has become England’s first-choice centre-forward and these days Rooney makes the sacrifice for the Liverpool man – and, you could argue, his team-mate Raheem Sterling, who played as the number ten in Basel and was central to the team's success.Rooney doesn't complain, even if - as Dion Fanning pointed out in Gary Lineker’s Official Guide to the World Cup magazine - at the age of 28 he can justifiably claim the time has come for others to make sacrifices for him.Last year, he said his preference was to play up front and yet this season, for club and country, he is unlikely to get his way. Sturridge is the man for England, while Radamel Falcao and Van Persie are ahead of him in that queue at Old Trafford. Sturridge’s injury actually saved Hodgson from a selection dilemma. Rooney, Sturridge and Danny Welbeck, who scored twice, all prefer to play up front, but two into three does not go (and at times, the Sturridge-Welbeck partnership has looked better than the Sturridge-Rooney one).(uk.eurosport.yahoo.com)Bakudaily.Az