18/05/2013 00:00
TW
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By Humphrey Carter ENGLAND'S World Cup hope, Wayne Rooney, did not hang around after the end of the football season last Sunday to hear if he was included in Fabio Capello's provisional 30-strong squad for South Africa and jetted into Majorca for a few days rest in the sunshine after a punishing season which saw Manchester United pipped to the title on the final day by Chelsea.

He is understood to have flown in on Monday with his wife Coleen and their young son Kai and yesterday afternoon, slipped aboard a private jet for the return flight home.

There has been some concern about the physical condition of Rooney with the World Cup kicking off in just 28 days time.
Earlier this week United States midfielder Landon Donovan believes a long season is catching up with a “worn out'' Wayne Rooney ahead of the World Cup finals in South Africa.

TIRED?
Donovan, who will lead the United States against England in their World Cup opener in Rustenburg on June 12, thinks that Rooney is tired after playing 49 games for club and country and cites that as a reason why he has been troubled by both ankle and groin injuries in recent weeks.

In fact, he would have been nursing that groin injury which flared up again during Sunday's game, here in Majorca.
And that groin injury is not only causing concern to football fans, but also bar owners here in Majorca who are hoping that England go all the way and help boost business during the month-long tournament. “There is a very realistic chance England can make the final with a fit team, but without Rooney they're half a team,” said Mike Parry, a commentator at U.K. radio station Talksport this week. “The very best bet would be for England to get to a semifinal. “The effect of that on businesses would be enormous,” he added. And even Russell Crowe said at the Cannes Film Festival that, providing Wayne Rooney is fit, England could possibly win the World Cup.

This season, Rooney was awarded the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year in 2009–10 .
Yesterday, the England coach Fabio Capello said that he believes Wayne Rooney is as important to the national team as Raul was to Real Madrid when the Italian coached him at the Bernabeu.

Capello has no worries about Rooney's fitness for next month's World Cup.
And he underlined how pivotal the forward is to England's hopes in South Africa by comparing the 24-year-old to the former Spain international and Real Madrid icon. “Wayne Rooney is one of the best talents that I have ever coached,” said the Italian, who believes the in-form striker has a key role to play in leading by example.... and winning the World Cup for England next month.