World Cup be-all, end-all prize for Wayne Rooney

Doha: He won't change clubs, won't change his character and he certainly won't change a nappy.

Welcome to the unpampered, Pampers-free life of Wayne Rooney, an ordinary man with an extraordinary gift for making a football move.

An audience with the most important sportsman in Britain is invariably a treat and Rooney, frank and fearless, did not disappoint on Thursday.

England's front man fronted up on a host of issues. Nappy duties? Leave it to the fragrant Colleen. Quit Manchester United? No chance. Old Trafford forever. Bend it like a Brazilian? No. Joe Cole possesses more skill. World class? Only if England win the World Cup.

Just as Sir Alex Ferguson has urged United's No 10 to be more selfish in front of goal, so it is tempting to plead with England's No 10 not to be so unforgiving in his self-critique, that it is possible to earn global acclaim without getting his hands on the trophy that most obsesses footballers.

Alfredo di Stefano, George Best, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten, individuals hailed among the game's most special, never became champions of the world.

Stephane Guivarc'h owns a chunk of Fifa's most precious metal and the shot-shy Frenchman would feature in most Newcastle United fans' Worst Toon XI. Roque Junior's modest contributions for Leeds United drew derisive Elland Road gasps of "how bad must Roque Senior be'' yet the centre-half has cradled the World Cup. Rooney was having none of that theorising.

Plaudits without prizes were for losers. South Africa 2010 fixates him. It was Soccer City or bust, the July 11 final in Johannesburg being his audition for the game's Hall of Fame.

"If you want to be remembered as a great, you need to be a World Cup winner," stressed Rooney, sitting in the elegant Ritz-Carlton hotel here, taking a breather between training sessions in advance of today's friendly with Brazil.

Only 24, Rooney will enjoy more chances, definitely Brazil 2014, possibly Spain/Russia/England 2018, but he cannot listen to any sound beyond the call of the vuvuzela next summer.

"There are players like George Best and [Cristiano] Ronaldo who are geniuses but, personally, I feel I have to help England win a World Cup to be considered like that.''

The country of Pele and Garrincha, Ronaldo and Kaka remains the benchmark so his first engagement with Brazil particularly stirs Rooney.

Members of Dunga's squad out here, notably Kaka, eulogise about Rooney, saying the Samba Scouser could be a product of the footballing academies of Rio's beaches and favelas. "I don't think I look like a Brazilian!" laughed the Merseysider.