Bradley: USA won't wind up Rooney

By Soccernet staff

USA coach Bob Bradley has contradicted claims by defender Jay DeMerit that his team will seek to "wind up" England's Wayne Rooney when the two countries open Group C on Saturday evening.

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Rooney's temperament has once again been questioned after he was booked for dissent in England's warm-up game against Platinum Stars and warned by referee Jeff Selogilwe that he risks being dismissed when the tournament starts if he persists with such behaviour.

DeMerit, who has spent the past six seasons in England representing Watford, suggested that USA would look to exploit Rooney's short temper by goading the striker in Rustenburg, but this is something that Bradley was quick to deny.

"I get asked the question about Wayne Rooney all the time," Bradley said. "I have tremendous respect for Rooney and what he brings to England in so many ways.

"His effort, his competitiveness, his movement, his influence on that team is great. But we won't try and wind him up, no. We don't enter into all of that sort of thing."

USA will boast a number of players familiar to English fans in their team on Saturday with Fulham's Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Everton, enjoying the highest profile. Bradley expects both players to make an impact against Fabio Capello's England.

"Landon and Clint are both important attacking players for us and we are very lucky they have the ability to play different roles," Bradley said. "We have seen that with Clint at Fulham and with Landon at the LA Galaxy and with Everton on loan.

"That is something that allows us to have some tactical flexibility and something we hope we can use at some stage to our advantage."

source:soccernet.espn.go.com