London, Jul 6 (ANI): Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has said that the pressure of the huge expectations of the nation on Wayne Rooney's shoulders, resulted in a bitterly disappointing World Cup tournament for the ace striker, who failed to score a single goal.
Ferguson has now urged critics to lay off Rooney, and tipped him to shine at the next World Cup in four years' time.
He admitted that he was baffled by the Three Lions' poor show, but said his 24-year-old superstar will bounce back and prove his pedigree in Brazil in 2014.
"There was talk of him being the player of the tournament. The prelude to the whole thing was that he was going to be the star," Ferguson told The Sun.
"He was going to outshine Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, all of them. That's where the level of expectation comes into it. But he's not got great experience of a World Cup really. You wait, in four years' time you'll see a different player," he said.
Ferguson said that he was puzzled but not totally surprised by England's dismal performance in the World Cup.
"It's an imponderable as to why these players can't get better form. I watched the games too and I was baffled by what I saw, but I wasn't totally surprised. I think the expectation and they'd been away for a long time... there were a lot of factors.
"But don't forget none of the English team have any experience of playing in the semi-finals," Ferguson said. (ANI)
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