IS Wayne Rooney a national hero or the ultimate international flat track bully?

Thursday night’s England game against the United States is all about celebrating the country’s all-time record goalscorer first and a football match second.

Don’t forget, this is a match, which along with Sunday's game against Croatia, that means the entire Premier League and Championship programmes has to be called off.

Normally that eventuality is reserved for matches seen – only by a few mind – who regard England games outside of major tournaments as important.

It is, in effect, a testimonial for Rooney which, as such, has gained an awful lot of extra publicity for a fixture so underwhelming it would have been a major challenge to hype up and sell tickets for.

Many have fallen for the story that Rooney deserves to play one last time for England at the age of 33, two years after his last outing.

If that’s true 1. Why has it never been done before with other players? And 2. Does Rooney deserve it?

If Rooney deserves it why didn’t Bobby Charlton when he became England's record goalscorer? Or Gary Lineker for being the country’s highest scorer at World Cup finals tournaments?

The answer is Rooney does not merit his 120th cap.

He doesn't deserve it because since he was 17 and scored four goals in the European Championships his return at major championship finals – the only thing that matters in international football – has been very poor.

Since then he has scored only two goals at European Championship finals – one of those a penalty in the national humiliation defeat to Iceland – and one in his entire career at World Cup finals tournaments.

That’s right. Rooney has scored just a single solitary goal in 11 appearances in World Cup finals.

Nat Lofthouse scored three times that many, and he only played in one World Cup finals.

In comparison Lineker scored 10 goals at World Cup finals and Harry Kane is already up to six with his exploits in Russia this year.

So what are we supposed to be celebrating on Thursday night? Well, apart from an excellent piece of public relations spin to create massive publicity for a game almost bereft of any competitive interest, it is the fact Rooney is England’s record goalscorer with 53 goals.

Sounds a decent figure – 53 goals in 119 appearances – but as ever the devil is in the detail.

Almost half that total – 26 to be exact – were scored against teams arguably of Championship standard and below in Macedonia, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Andorra, San Marino, Montenegro, Ecuador, San Marino, Scotland, Lithuania and Australia.

No, this isn't about celebrating a great goalscoring achievement, it is a charitable gesture, and professional football should not be about handouts, it should be about ability and form.

Pulling on an England shirt was always supposed to be the proudest moment in a player’s career.

That was the sentiment you felt when Kevin Davies got his solitary England cap at the age of 33.

Another Wanderers striker, Michael Ricketts, also won one cap.

But what if they were playing now and sitting on the bench alongside Rooney, deserving to be sent on the field because of their form but being denied their deserved once-in-a-lifetime cap by a non-footballing decision to send on Wayne Rooney to get a few claps from the crowd for what he has done in the past?

Rooney can be proud of looking at 119 of his England caps but pride from achievement will not be the sentiment he should feel when he looks at the 120th.

Pride at being honoured, maybe, but not at having deserved it.

Either football is competitive or it’s a charity. It can’t be both.

Rooney’s gifted cap sends out the wrong message about what it means to play for your country.

It says you can be handed a place in a team if the circumstances suit those who have decided to hand it to you.

And it says it is possible to be picked for the so-called greatest honour in football on factors other than the one it should – merit.