Why Rooney falls short of being England's greatest ever

Wayne Rooney has left behind a difficult legacy. There's no disputing he's one of England's all-time greats, but many things he did for his country come with a caveat.

His red card in the 2006 World Cup, his sarcastic jab at jeering supporters, and his drunken behaviour at a wedding seemed to legitimise a feeling that Rooney, who burst onto the international scene as a 17-year-old in 2003, never lived up to the promise.

At the same time, he established himself as his country's all-time scorer with 53 goals in 119 appearances. Rooney replaced David Beckham as the Three Lions' most-capped outfield player and, no matter the injuries, criticism, or positions he had to fill, remained committed to the English cause. No other English international has scored in more qualifying matches than Rooney.

But his World Cup performances, or lack thereof, are what many remember. The media held him to a higher standard than his teammates, and the cameras caught every movement. Rooney suffered with this overexposure. So, when the moments weren't complimentary, he was the poster boy. He came to symbolize what the national team had become, a so-called "golden generation" gone to waste.

"The general prognosis among the anti-Wayne faction seems to be of a high end dead-weight, a choker, a tournament-pooper," the Guardian's Barney Ronay wrote in September 2015. "At the last World Cup, the mere mention of his name on social media was a muster point for frothing, squealing rage."

Rooney admitted in his goodbye letter Wednesday that one of his "few" regrets is "not to have been part of a successful England tournament side."

Related: Rooney announces retirement from international football

The truth is that England's big-tournament failures aren't Rooney's to bear alone. Unfair expectations led to permanent disappointment of a team that lacked the composure, mentality, and, to some, the brand of football that wins World Cups and Euros.

But Rooney's to blame for some of his individual outings. As the keystone of his generation, the Merseyside native couldn't make an impact on the global stage. Whether it was an injury or a pattern of controversial behaviour, he never built on a fantastic Euro 2004 campaign in which he scored four goals and earned a spot in the Team of the Tournament.

And therein lies distinction between Rooney and the likes of Sir Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, and Gary Lineker. When weighing Rooney against his predecessors, the answer is clear: Charlton scored three crucial goals in 1966, Moore later hoisted football's top prize as captain, and Lineker led scoring at the 1986 World Cup and helped his country reach the semi-finals of Italia '90.

Although there may have been no prouder captain of the English national team than Rooney - who said being appointed was the realisation of his "wildest dreams" - Moore set the benchmark for natural-born leaders. He captained a joint-record 90 matches, and first wore the armband as a 22-year-old.

The scoring honour made Rooney an all-time great, but not necessarily the greatest scorer in England's history. Jimmy Greaves posted a superior scoring rate, and Charlton still managed to convert 49 goals primarily from midfield.

"Rooney can take the record," journalist Henry Winter wrote for The Telegraph in 2014, "but never the glory."

He just couldn't elevate England's status. Although he entered the 2006 World Cup with injury, he finished the tournament scoreless after stamping on Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho. In 2010, goals eluded him again, and he slumped in England's No. 10 shirt. Rooney missed the first two matches of Euro 2012 as a result of a ban for a blatant kick on a Montenegrin international. And in the 2014 World Cup, Rooney was finally one of the better players on an otherwise catastrophic team, scoring and setting up England's only two goals in Brazil.

It was just too little, too late.

In qualifying, Rooney made his mark. There were sacrificial lambs like San Marino but also Russia, Poland, Croatia, and Switzerland. Besides, even Charlton and Lineker profited off the minnows of their day, when England would thrash Luxembourg and Turkey.

Rooney helped England win all 10 qualifiers en route to Euro 2016, but here's another caveat: Iceland sent him and his teammates home after a disastrous Round of 16 defeat.

Although Rooney was prolific, he was just short of accomplishing something special. That's how he'll be remembered.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)