England striker Wayne Rooney, who has a history of losing temper on the field, has vowed to lead the country with honour after he was named the captain for Friday's World Cup qualifier match against San Marino at Wembley.
Rooney has been asked to captain England as skipper Steven Gerrard is serving a suspension and vice-captain Frank Lampard has been ruled out of Friday's match due to knee injury. Coach Roy Hodgson preferred the 26-year-old striker to Joe Hart to lead the team.
The Manchester United striker has a bad reputation of losing his cool on the field while playing for England. He was shown a red card for a nasty foul against Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho in 2006. He blasted England supporters after a drawn match with Algeria at the 2010 World Cup. He was again sent off the field last year during a match against Montenegro for kicking a player.
Rooney vowed that he wouldn't repeat his past mistake when he lead England on Friday.
"What happened in Montenegro was stupid. I regretted it as soon as I'd done it. It won't be happening again, I can promise. The thing against Algeria was partly to do with looking for a way to justify my own performance. Since then, I've matured more as a player and a person," ESPN quoted him as saying.
"I have cut out a lot of the silly tackles and mistakes I made as a young player. I don't want to be making the wrong type of headlines and missing games I don't want to be missing."
Manager Roy Hodgson is confident Rooney can take the challenge of leading the country well.
"I enjoy working with Wayne, we had a good Euros. I was disappointed of course when he got that terrible gash and I was even worried it would keep him out not only of the September games but also of the October games. Luckily he has made a quick recovery and will certainly captain the team in the first one," Hodgson told reporters on Thursday.
Rooney had earlier led England in 2009 in a friendly match againt Brazil in Doha. He will lead the team again tonight against San Marino after facing a disappointing draw with Ukraine.
