England superstar Wayne Rooney finally managed to get the monkey off his back after scoring a World Cup goal, which came in the 2-1 defeat against Uruguay. Rooney came into the World Cup 2014 after having not scored in his previous eight World Cup matches. The run continued to nine after the forward missed several good opportunities against Italy, which was a match that England lost 2-1 as well. Rooney was in danger of being branded as a spectacular failure at international level, but he came up with an equaliser against Uruguay.

It was his first World Cup goal and a memorable one, but the memories have since turned sour. Uruguay managed to regain the lead Luis Suarez and England were defeated by the same score. The defeat, though, had much more implications than the one against Italy since it meant England were out of the World Cup. Rooney is expected to play a part in England’s final group match against Costa Rica, which is a meaningless encounter. Ahead of the match, the 28-year-old admitted that his first World Cup goal will always be seen as one that led to failure.

The goal against Uruguay also brought Rooney level with Michael Owen at 40 goals for the national team. He trails recordholder Sir Bobby Charlton by nine more goals. This is the second World Cup for Rooney. “The memory of the goal will always be tainted because we lost the game and went out of the tournament. The team is much bigger than Wayne Rooney. Obviously we are all hurting. We have to get on with it. It’s football, it happens. On Tuesday night against Costa Rica we have to try to win the game,” said the Manchester United striker.

Prior to the tournament, Paul Scholes said that Rooney may have been past his best.