14 Nov Muscat torn by Rooney, Cahill farewell games

Former Socceroo Kevin Muscat isn’t completely sold on the concept of players being afforded farewell matches with their international sides, but can see the emotional attachment to the exhibitions.

Wayne Rooney retired from international football in 2017, but will captain England and wear number 10 in a farewell game against the United States later this week.

Tim Cahill will have a similar tribute match on November 20 against Lebanon.

SEN Breakfast with Garry Lyon and Tim Watson can be heard Monday-Friday 6-9am, and you can subscribe to the podcast here.

“I’ve been tossing and turning with this one,” Muscat told SEN Breakfast.

“I believe representing your nation and playing for your national team, you should earn it on merit and it should be given for those reasons and those reasons alone.

“Having said that, there is another side of me that says he (Rooney) has done so much and scored so many goals and created records for England, that it’s hard for me to find a problem with it.

“We have got the same situation with Timmy in the middle of next week.

“It’s a difficult one. I believe you should earn by performance an international cap but I’m a little bit torn because there is a lot of sentimental history that both of them have created.”

Listen to Kevin Muscat’s chat with Garry Lyon and Tim Watson on SEN Breakfast in the player below