SportsEngland's Euro 2016 woes: Rooney's fury and Hodgson's exit

England's Euro 2016 woes: Rooney's fury and Hodgson's exit

Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney
Images source: © Getty Images | ROBIN JONES

1:34 PM EDT, June 9, 2024

Euro 2016 did not go as planned for the England national team. Managed by coach Roy Hodgson at the time, the team was eliminated in the Round of 16. This fact and frequent visits for anti-doping checks frustrated Wayne Rooney so much that he vandalized the TV and the room where samples were taken.

The England national team wanted to forget about the European Championships in France as soon as possible. Everything was due to a surprising upset in the Round of 16. At that stage, Roy Hodgson's team was defeated 2-1 by Iceland. The British team's participation in the tournament ended there.

The anger of the English after this game was indescribable. This is best illustrated by the behavior of Wayne Rooney, the team's captain at the time. Shortly after the final whistle, Rooney was once again called for an anti-doping check during the tournament. This alone drove him to madness.

- A weird thing was that at every game in that tournament I was selected for the drugs test. I was fuming. They say it’s a random process but somehow every single time it was me. was so annoyed after the Wales game that I smashed the testing room up - Rooney said in an interview with "The Sun".

However, that's not all. The former player revealed that the television in the room was also destroyed. All of this happened in front of Wales's representative, Aaron Ramsey. Such behavior did not go unpunished for Rooney. The Englishman received a bill for the repair costs from UEFA.

Let's add that after the Euros in France, Hodgson parted ways with the coaching position. He was replaced by Gareth Southgate, who remains the coach of the England team to this day.

Let’s also remember that Rooney ended his international career in 2018. His record in the national team stands at 120 appearances and 53 goals. This made him the top scorer in the history of the Three Lions until Harry Kane broke his record.

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