Rooney goal takes the plaudits

Charlton 2 Everton 2

If there are any football followers who still harbour doubts about the international calibre of Wayne Rooney today they should have a chat with a few Charlton players.

The Everton striker deprived Alan Curbishley's side of a win at The Valley last night with a wonder goal to level the scores at 2-2, but they were still happy to sing his praises.

Charlton midfielder Scott Parker said: "Everyone knows the class he has got and that he has the ability to produce great things like that. When a striker is scoring goals like that he is going to get all the headlines but he deserves all the credit he gets."

Other Charlton players described Rooney's goal as "special" and "fantastic" and Curbishley called it "great". There are not that many players who attract those kind of plaudits and even fewer manage it when they are just 17, and two weeks short of full fitness after an ankle injury.

But when Rooney controlled a powerful cross, turned defender Mark Fish and thundered the ball past Dean Kiely 18 minutes from the end, everyone in the ground - including England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson - was impressed.

Some people have claimed the Everton striker is too inexperienced to be playing for England but even his club manager and fiercest minder, David Moyes, is no longer holding him back. He called for the youngster to be picked for the Euro 2004 qualifiers against Macedonia and Liechtenstein early next month, after having been left out for last week's friendly against Croatia.

But Rooney was not the only one to enhance his England chances last night. Parker, too, was an impressive performer in front of Eriksson - and so was his two-goal team-mate, Jason Euell.

Parker created the first goal when David Unsworth brought him down in the Everton penalty area after a skilful one-two with Radostin Kishishev in the 25th minute.

Euell tucked away the penalty neatly but Everton equalised less than two minutes later when Steve Watson lobbed the ball beyond Kiely from a tight angle after Mark Pembridge played him into the six-yard box. Charlton won a second penalty when Hermann Hreidarsson fell spectacularly under Joseph Yobo's 49th minute challenge and Euell converted it comfortably.

Then Rooney scored his equaliser and took the limelight away from some impressive performances in a Charlton team, who were without Paolo Di Canio because of a minor knee injury.

Former England Under-21 international Parker may have wanted Eriksson's undivided attention, but he was not complaining. He said: "There was a bit of talk surrounding me over the summer because of clubs being interested and I didn't like it.

"I like to be able to keep things quiet and go about my business. Things are going quite well for me at the moment. I believe that if I am performing I can force my way into the England side."

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