LONDON: Sven-Goran Eriksson and Alex Ferguson will be hoping that Wayne Rooney's 20th birthday on Monday marks an end to the teenage temper that has accompanied his astonishing rise in the game.

The England and Manchester United managers share the same admiration for Rooney's talents, as the former prepares for next year's World Cup and the latter seeks to avoid another trophyless season.

Yet both men are anxious for the Liverpudlian to do a better job of treading the fine line between competitive aggression and needless bookings.

Born into a family of boxers, the fire that makes Rooney such a fierce adversary is an important part of his game. Defenders find it almost impossible to bundle him off the ball and none relish going in for a 50-50 challenge with the striker.

Yet this season has provided examples of Rooney's temperament proving costly.

Rooney is United's best chance of repeating their 1999 Champions League triumph in what could be Ferguson's final season in charge. His dismissal after sarcastically applauding referee Kim Milton Nielsen for a booking against Villarreal last month earned him a two-match suspension.

Qualifying ban

On England duty, Rooney's yellow card against Northern Ireland cost him a potentially damaging ban against Austria, and his highly public on-field spat with captain David Beckham was just what Eriksson's men need to avoid in Germany.

The pressure on Rooney to avoid these outbursts is simply a reflection of how valuable he has become to the club and the country.

He burst on to the scene as a 16-year-old for Everton, scoring a superb goal to end Arsenal's 30-match unbeaten run in October 2002, and set two England records within a year as their youngest player, at 17, and youngest scorer.

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