The infamous Wayne Rooney hair is no longer an issue. The issue that is bothering Rooney today is related to World Cup-related pressure.

Rooney has now found the inner strength to cope with the pressure associated with having to break his World Cup duck back in Brazil. For 2006 and 2010, Rooney was not able to bring his A game. The recent additions to the team in the form of Raheem Sterling, Ross Barkley, and Daniel Sturridge, have raised questions about whether or not Rooney should still be the team's automatic starter.

However, Hodgson looked like he would bet on it when he hinted that Rooney can silence his critics this time around. He said, "I've been following the career of people like Wayne Rooney and Steve Gerrard for many years, before that David Beckham went through plenty of periods when people had lots to say about him as well, and yet they survive it well."

Hodgson continued with, "If anyone in any walk of life wanted to find out how you deal with that sort of criticism, then people like Wayne Rooney and Beckham would be good guys to turn to, I think. It will be for Wayne to show them, really. The World Cup is a major event, the coverage is quite enormous, it's just par for the course that there are going to be lots of opinion. A lot of those opinions will be opinions that players may not want to hear. But the good thing is Wayne Rooney has got a chance."

Rehashing the previous cups, it would seem that Rooney was not properly fit to be part of the World Cup team. Reports have stated that he even looked tormented while he was in South Africa years ago. However, things have changed for Rooney and he now faces the 2014 World Cup with much ease.