The ex-Manchester United and Three Lions star has weighed in on the win against Croatia.
Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has said that England have to fasten on the return of Jordan Henderson and Harry Maguire after the win in their Euro opener against Croatia.
While already impressed with the youngsters’ impact, Rooney feels that the return of Henderson and Maguire – both are experienced campaigners – would be vital to the Three Lions in the tournament.
Henderson and Maguire missed the game against Croatia as both have been hit with injury setbacks. Although the former had appeared in the final warmup game, the latter is expected to be fit for the final group stage game against the Czech Republic.
Rooney, who was among the audience on Sunday to catch Three Lions in action, said:
“There’s a lot of quality in the squad; my only worry is a lack of experience – it’s important Harry Maguire, and Jordan Henderson get fit because they will be vital moving forward.
“It was a good positive start, a solid professional performance.
With the heat, it was never going to be an end-to-end game; it was always going to be a game of moments.
“To win that was massive, Croatia are a good team, and it will give the players a relief that they are comfortable in the group now.”
“They’ll be a bit more relaxed going into the game against Scotland, and if they didn’t win, they could have been a bit anxious.”
Declan Rice, Kalvin Phillips and Mason Mount started in the midfield, and all three put on an impressive display. Especially, Phillips exceeded his expectations by producing a man of the match display as he set up the winning strike of Raheem Sterling.
Gareth Southgate’s men will next face Scotland this weekend.
