For 85 minutes against Slovenia, it was looking like a day to forget for striker Wayne Rooney after he had missed some crucial chances to put his team ahead. The England team were trailing two Slovenia and were in danger of dropping their first points in the group stages.
After a disappointing World Cup 2014, the team has been on an impeccable run of form that has seen them take up five wins out of five up until now. A sixth victory would put them in a commanding position going into the last few games.
Third placed Slovenia were also fighting for qualification and a positive result would have helped them close the gap on second placed Switzerland. As it is, Switzerland have been able to secure a commanding position after getting a win to take advantage of the dropped points for Slovenia. Two goals from Jack Wilshere had given England a 2-1 lead in the match. However, Pečnik’s goal with six minutes remaining looked to have given them a well-earned point. After missing two big chances before his moment in the 86th minute, Rooney may have been forgiven for not being confident. However, he converted his chance with aplomb to give England all three points from this difficult away match.
“Wayne Rooney’s performance says a lot of things about him as a man.Just before he took that chance he took a nasty blow from an elbow, which could have decked many a player and led to him losing his discipline. It didn’t and he got up.The fact one or two chances had gone begging, when the ball fell to him he still stuck it away with aplomb. We can rely on that man. I’d have liked him to get a hat-trick today so all the talk of the record would be finished, but he has plenty of time,” said Hodgson.