After a Terrible World Cup, Now Is Wayne Rooney's Time To Shine for England

Going into the 2010 FIFA World Cup, many people believed that England was a serious contender to win the World Cup.

Why not, especially considering they had a fantastic manager in Fabio Capello and players such as Steven Gerrard, and John Terry that were hungry to win the World Cup?

But there was one player in particular that was expected to shine among all of England's players in South Africa.

That footballer was none other than Manchester United star striker Wayne Rooney.

Of course, Rooney was having a great 2010 calendar year, as he scored 19 goals before suffering some slight ligament damage to his ankle, after getting challenged by Bayern Munich's Mario Gomez during the closing moments of the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal between Bayern and Man United on March 30.

But Rooney rushed back after getting injured for the return leg at Old Trafford, which caused him to hurt his ankle even more, and Man United was eliminated by Bayern on away goals.

Throughout the rest of the season, Rooney played in four more Premier League matches but did not manage to score at all, as Manchester United failed to win their fourth straight Premier League title.

But with the end of the Premier League season came the World Cup, which was supposed to be Rooney's time to shine.

But starting with England's tie with the United States, it slowly became clear that not only was England not at their best, but Rooney was not completely fit as well.

After getting injured against Bayern the first time, Rooney should have been shut down for the rest of the season to fully focus on the World Cup.

But Sir Alex Ferguson was not going to do that, as he saw a chance to win the Premier League and wanted his best player available to accomplish that goal.

Now, England was about to play Algeria in Cape Town in a match that they should have won—that match against Algeria turned into a microcosm of England's time in the 2010 World Cup, as England ended up in a scoreless draw.

But the most famous part of that match came at the conclusion of the match, with Rooney going up to the camera and saying, "Nice to see your home fans boo you, that's loyal supporters."

After being criticized by the English media for the poor display and Rooney's comments, England was able to beat Slovenia 1-0 on the power of a Jermaine Defoe goal to finish second overall in Group C (with the USA finishing first).

That second-place finish placed an experienced England squad with their archrival Germany (who had a very young squad) in the round of 16 in Bloemfontein on June 27.

Despite the controversial no-goal call on Frank Lampard that would have tied the match at two, England was embarrassed by a 4-1 score and saw their World Cup dream die.

With the World Cup failure, blame fell largely on Wayne Rooney after failing to score and the comments he made about England's fans.

In England's first match since the World Cup at Wembley on August 11, Rooney got a mixed reaction from England's fans as he continued to show what he is capable of in England's 2-1 win.

But now with the Premier League season now under way (with Rooney breaking an 18-hour skid of not scoring with a goal off a penalty against West Ham), Wayne Rooney now can finally shine tonight against Bulgaria in what will be England's first competitive match since getting knocked out of the World Cup.

Yesterday, Fabio Capello has stated that Rooney appeared back to normal during United's match last weekend against West Ham. For that exact reason, Capello has stated that he expects Rooney to play "with style" as he plays tomorrow.

Another reason to expect Rooney to play to his best is that his is his return to a major competition with England.

After that World Cup, Rooney now finds himself in a situation that could see him expose that brilliance from last season before the injury.

Now at Wembley Stadium on a Friday night, what better way to show that you are a great player than to play a fantastic match in front of your country?

Finally, great players step up to the big stage and deliver—this is Wayne Rooney's moment to join that class of footballers.