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Peter Fitzpatrick·17 Juni 2025
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Peter Fitzpatrick·17 Juni 2025
Wayne Rooney's EURO 2004 campaign might have been just three-and-a-bit games long, but it quickly became the stuff of legend.
On this day 21 years ago, he made some championship history.
Despite the 18-year-old terrorising the French defence days earlier, England lost their opening group game at the death, and needed a response against Switzerland.
Rooney led it, scoring twice in a 3-0 victory and becoming the youngest-ever scorer in a EUROs game. The record lasted just three days before the Swiss forward Johan Vonlanthen broke it.
The future England captain would score two goals against Croatia in a final group game, before breaking his foot in the quarter-final loss to Portugal.
It remains one of the great "What Ifs" in English football history.
📸 AFP - 2004 AFP