Rooney needs time, says Beckham

By George Burns Jun 16, 2006, 0:28 GMT

Nuremberg - Wayne Rooney needs more time before he is back to his best, David Beckham said Thursday after the striker made his long-awaited return from injury.

The 20-year-old Manchester United star played just over half an hour in the 2-0 defeat of Trinidad and Tobago in England's Group B match in Nuremberg, his first competitive match since breaking his foot at the end of April.

'Wayne is a young player and expectations are very, very high,' said the England captain after the win.

'People just expect him to come on in a football match when he has been out for six weeks, go past four players and stick one in the top corner.

'That's a big ask for someone who has just come back from injury even though he can do that but we have to be patient.'

England have now booked their place in the last 16 of the tournament with a match to spare and Beckham feels his team have a lot more to offer.

'When you get to the last 16 that's when the big games start,' he said.

'I think there's a lot more to come from us because as a team, we know we can perform better. We know that,' he said.

Beckham admitted his side struggled against Trinidad but was delighted by the late goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard, the first time England have scored in the second half of a World Cup finals match since 1998.

'The positive out of this is the fact that in the second half we were very strong and we scored in the second half. We haven't done that for a while,' said the Real Madrid midfielder.

'It's nice for us to do that now and maybe it will stop people talking about us not scoring in the second half.'