Wayne Rooney delivers impassioned speech to his DC United dressing room ahead of the new MLS season
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‘There’s no chance I’m ending up at the bottom again’: New images inside the DC United dressing room show Wayne Rooney’s managerial manner, telling stars to ‘go home now’ after having others sent off
- Wayne Rooney was filmed delivering an impassioned speech at his DC United side
- The coach addressed his players as they prepare for the new MLS campaign
- Rooney and DC United finished last in the Eastern Conference last season
- The former striker vowed not to “end up at the bottom of that shitty league again”
Footage has emerged of manager Wayne Rooney passionately addressing his DC United dressing room ahead of the club’s 2023 MLS campaign, with the former England star vowing not to finish “last in that shitty league again” in an impassioned speech. .
The Washington-based team, which finished at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with 27 points last year, has just over a month to prepare for its opener of the new season against Toronto on February 26.
Having taken DC United’s hot seat midway through last season in July, Rooney has yet to oversee a pre-season in the US capital and didn’t need a second wild card to assert his authority ahead of next season.
The footage showed Wayne Rooney addressing his DC United players ahead of the new campaign.
During his first speech of the season, which was filmed and released by DC United on Thursday, the 37-year-old struggled to contain the swearing and insisted his team’s mentality had to improve after an unsuccessful year last term.
He asked his players: ‘How are we going to improve day by day? There are different things: training sessions, matches, match management.
‘The guys that were here last year, you know, they heard me talk about it all the time. The damn mentality every day has to be the right one. That belief every day has to be correct. Because if it isn’t, you might as well go home now.
The 37-year-old took charge in the middle of last year when DC United finished last in MLS.
“That mentality has to be at a very high level for us to be able to perform every week. It’s a tough, tough league. There are very good teams in the league. And we have to compete this year. We have to have that damn desire to succeed.
Rooney, who scored more than 500 appearances for England during his playing days, insisted there is little difference between Premier League and MLS soccer, urging the sport to be the same around the world.
The former Manchester United star made over 500 appearances during his time in England.
He continued: “Walking around England, I even went to the Dubai fort for a couple of weeks on vacation, and people would come up to me and say, ‘How is America? Is it nice? Football is different there.”
‘No, it fucking isn’t. Soccer is soccer.
‘We have to stick together as a group. Just a reminder, if we stick together, we’ll be a good team.
Now we have time to work on how I want to play, how we want to evolve as a team, improve and how we want to improve. How do we want to be successful? Because there’s no chance he’s ever going to finish last in that damn league again.
Rooney’s DC United team, led by former Premier League stars Christian Benteke and Ravel Morrison, rode a four-match losing streak to close out the MLS season last year.
Benteke, who arrived as the club’s record signing in August, scored one goal in seven games for the rojiblanca.