Rush dreams of World Cup role a decade after retiring

Dubai: A decade after he last kicked a football in a competitive match, Wales and Liverpool great Ian Rush says he still nurses every footballer's dream of going to the World Cup.

Even if he does, it won't be the same, as Rush, who is now employed by the Wales FA, will have to watch from the sidelines. But it will be some compensation for the 48-year-old, one of the few brilliant players never to have played in football's biggest tournament.

Rush joins fellow legends George Best and Ryan Giggs, both of Manchester United fame, on the list of footballers, who have never participated in a major international competition.

During his 16-year international career, the Liverpool striker missed four World Cups (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994) and five European Championships (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996).

Disappointing

His disappointment is immense and the hurt of not having played fresh.

But as he's tasked with building a Welsh side for the future as Elite Performance Director, he says his World Cup dream is still alive.

"It is very disappointing," said Rush, who was in the city to promote the Emirates Airline Dubai Football Sevens told Gulf News yesterday. "Definitely, one of the low points of my career is not playing in the World Cup.

"We had George Best and Ryan Giggs at Manchester United and me at Liverpool; all players to have never played in a World Cup tournament and it is frustrating, but I really think you have to look at the high points again and you've got to be positive rather than negative.

"I was very lucky to have played for a great club like Liverpool and Ryan and George were lucky to have played for United, that's the way I look at it. I work for the Welsh Football Association now and basically my dream is to see my country qualifying for the World Cup. I still have a dream there, but as a player it's very disappointing to see players going to the World Cup when you know you could have been there as well."

Rush was prolific as a striker, particularly at Liverpool for whom, in two stints, comprising a total of 469 matches, he scored 229 goals. In between his two long outings with the Reds, Rush spent a season with Juventus in Italy, where he failed to make an impression, scoring just seven times in 29 matches. His last season with Liverpool ended in 1996, but heart is still at the Kop, where he spent 15 of his 22 years as a professional.