Wayne Rooney grabbed the headlines in Major League Soccer on Wednesday when he scored an incredible goal for DC United with a strike from inside his own half for the second time in his career.
Rooney scored the stunning goal from 70 metres out — well inside his own half — in the 10th minute of Wednesday’s game against Orlando City.
Rooney had scored from inside his own half for Everton against West Ham United in 2017, three years after a memorable strike from near the halfway line against the same opponents while playing for Manchester United.
“I spotted the ‘keeper maybe a couple minutes before we scored and I’d seen that he was quite high,” Rooney said in comments published on the MLS website.
“I knew if the ball fell to me near the halfway line, then the opportunity would be there for me to shoot it.
“He was probably a bit further out than normally because they were in possession of the ball, and it was through them losing it that it fell straight into my path. I knew immediately I was going to shoot it and, thankfully, I got it right.”
Pele famously tried and failed to score from the centre circle in Brazil’s 1970 World Cup match against Czechoslovakia but England’s David Beckham succeeded in a 1996 game for Manchester United against Wimbledon.
Rooney’s goal on Wednesday proved to be the winner and kept DC United in third place in the Eastern Conference standings.
