Wayne Rooney’s Set-Piece Brilliance

There are so many different ways to look at and eventually analyse someone like Wayne Rooney. The Englishman has had one of the most complicated and intriguing journeys throughout the history of his tenure in the game, and when compared to many of his colleagues, he’s considered to be quite a controversial figure.

Of course, we all know him to be one of Major League Soccer’s biggest and best stars in the present day, which is what we’re here to talk about. As you may have seen on Yahoo Sports or any other number of places, the England and Manchester United legend was able to serve as a leading light for DC United last night as they continued their fantastic start to the season.

A fantastic talisman

His overall presence and influence always helps any given team that he’s on or any given game that he’s a part of, but to be more specific, his ability to score or create opportunities from dead ball situations is nothing short of remarkable. It was his close range free-kick that won the game for DC last night, and as you can imagine, people can’t stop talking about it.

MLS Soccer actually brought up a really interesting point by indicating that Wayne is going to become the new free kick king of the MLS, and ironically enough, it was his fellow Englishman David Beckham that he was compared to. Obviously the two men are incredibly different players, but in terms of name value, they are two of the biggest stars to have ever made the trip over the pond.

In truth, though, Wayne Rooney’s influence goes far beyond that. Sure, he’s great at striking the ball from those kind of situations and there’s a lot to be said for that, but he really has been able to prove what most people kind of already knew: that the Premier League is one of the best divisions in the world.

Moving forward

Many felt as if Wayne had gone past his prime and was no longer able to compete at that level, and there’s an argument to be made for that. With that being the case, though, you have to wonder just how far behind the MLS is in terms of overall quality given the success he’s having over here.

Instead of using that as a source of frustration, though, we should be seeing it as a source of major motivation.

Nobody anticipates or even expects Major League Soccer to become a major player overnight, because that just wouldn’t be a realistic prospect. What they do want to see, however, is some real investment in the youth, as well as some investment in enhancing the overall quality of the league.

That’s a big tangent to go off on when the core subject is Wayne Rooney, but it all comes together. From now until the end of the season, we’ll be really interested to see whether or not he can sustain this kind of form to the point where he helps DC to lift the MLS Cup up high.

Either way, we’re on board for the ride.