Wayne Rooney sparked a World Cup scare when he walked
out of Manchester United's 4-0 victory over Stoke with 13 minutes
remaining.
Hindered by groin and ankle problems over the final month of the
campaign and with hopes of landing either the Premier League title
or the Golden Boot wrecked by Chelsea's avalanche of goals at Stamford
Bridge, Rooney signalled to the bench he could not continue as his
side strolled to victory.
It looked like a recurrence of his groin problem, and Fabio Capello
can only hope Rooney took a sensible precaution by coming off in
a dead match rather than risk further damage.
Certainly it was a disappointing way for Rooney to end his domestic
commitments.
Indeed, rarely can a four-goal win, achieved through Darren Fletcher,
Ryan Giggs, a Danny Higginbotham own goal and Park Ji-sung, been
greeted in such a downbeat manner.
There was plenty of noise at the end, although that was mainly
due to the number of whistles being blown in protest at the Glazer
family's continued ownership.
United strode out at Old Trafford hoping for a miracle, whilst
being realistic enough to understand dreams of this magnitude simply
do not come true. |
