England captain Wayne Rooney has expressed his delight of being able to lead his country. The 28-year-old was handed the captaincy after Steven Gerrard retired from international football in the wake of a poor World Cup. 

The striker, who overtook Michael Owen in England's all-time top scorer charts with his penalty against Norway, spoke of the pride he felt earning the right to captain England, not long after being handed the same role at Manchester United. Rooney praised the young England side that beat Switzerland in their opener of Euro 2016 Qualifying, "We're a young team and there's still some things out there that we could have done better and a few sloppy mistakes at times, but we'll work on that. 

We're a young team but we are progressing and hopefully we can continue."

Gary Cahill, who was chosen as England's vice-captain, also discussed the honour given to him by Roy Hodgson. "It's a massive honour."

"Even just to pull on the England shirt and play for England is a huge honour, but to have the added bonus of being vice-captain is amazing."

Both players were pleased with England's progress since the abysmal World Cup this past summer and looked forward to the rest for Euro 2016 Qualifying.

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About the author
Harry  Harris
Covering the Premier League, Bundesliga and NFL. Writing for VAVEL since May 2014. Chelsea FC and Atlanta sports.