More Milestones for Rooney

For all the luck that plays into the game of football, it won’t alone take you to a championship. So sure, Wayne Rooney’s 25th goal for England, capping their 5-1 victory over Croatia on Saturday, was due in large part to a goal keeper’s blundered clearance, but lesser players would be caught off guard by the mistake without the controlled reflexes to do something with the gift. Not Rooney, whose 76th minute point-blank bullet came with the precision of a man taking no prisoners. It was his ninth goal in this qualifying campaign, a new record for England.

With two games left to play, Rooney and partners sit at the top of the group, and already booked for South Africa.