Wayne Rooney: England's Star Is Right to Call out Team Before Euro Cup

After a slew of past failures in major tournaments, Wayne Rooney has done a marvelous job of calling out his team to perform for their country in the 2012 European Championship.

This wasn't one of those call-outs that berates a team for their past transgressions or denounces their achievements on the field.

It was a call-out in which the English striker asked his team to put on a show for their country—as well as the entire world—in Poland and Ukraine this month.

England hasn't won a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup. Since Rooney joined the squad in 2003, the team has twice faltered in the earlier stages of the World Cup—once in the quarterfinal round and once in the Round of 16.

The English have never won the European Championship, placing fifth in 2004 and not even qualifying in 2008.

Sometimes, a team needs more than pressure from the media to spark a fire under them. Sometimes, a team needs one of their best and most well-known players to address the elephant in the room.

In this case, the elephant in the room has been England's inability to establish themselves as a major contender on the international stage for quite some time.

Rooney said, as per the Daily Mail:

"

We know as players that we are expected to do better than what we have done in recent years. We understand that playing for England you are there to be shot at. So we need to make sure that we give our all.

"

Maybe Rooney, who is suspended for his team's first two group games, is trying to compensate for his absence with his words.

This could prove to be a pivotal moment for England in terms of their chances of success in the Euro Cup.

At 26 years old, Rooney is one of the leaders and veterans of this England team. He made the right decision to make his feelings known prior to the tournament.

He knows England drew an easier road to the knockout stage than most other teams. Once he returns from his suspension, England may be able to go on a run for the ages.

The team's three opponents in the group stage will be France, Sweden and Ukraine. England is a better squad than those three teams.

They should be able to advance relatively easy, even without Rooney for the first two matches.

However, England sometimes plays down to its competition. Maybe Rooney's comments were meant as a means to make sure his teammates avoid doing that.

If England plays to its standards, and doesn't play down to the rest of its group, they'll be able to advance to the knockout stage with ease. If they can win Group D, they'll likely be able to avoid the probable winner of Group C—Spain.

Those are a fair amount of hypothetical situations. If some luck goes the Three Lions' way, Rooney's motivational comments will be looked back on as a pivotal moment.