Wayne Rooney, who played on D.C. United back in 2018 and 2019, rejoined the team last season as the new head coach. In an interview with Northern Virginia Magazine, he shared his thoughts on playoff goals and the transition from playing to coaching.
What expectations do you have for your team this season?
My expectations are, obviously, to improve from last season, but I think the playoffs are something which we want to aim for. I think the players we brought in have a lot more experience, mixed in with more quality … it’s an exciting challenge for us, and hopefully, it’s a good place for that challenge.
What made you want to come back to D.C. United?
It was a chance for me to come in and really see the team from my time when I came in last season, and see what improvements are needed and get all the players, consult the staff, and then focus on the offseason to rebuild the squad. I think we’ve done a good job with that. We’ve gotten some very good players in. We’ve got a lot of players who know the league really well and who can help us with that. For me to come back in, I like a challenge. And I knew this was a challenge to come back in and try and get D.C. back into the playoffs. There’s so much I’m excited for, looking forward to, and hopefully I can do that.
How has your experience and success as a player influenced your coaching style?
I think everyone’s different, and all coaches have their own ideas and have their own way of playing. For me, I want to be a possession-based team who is exciting … gets shots off and crosses into the box, and goals off the possession — very organized and hard to beat. That’s exactly what we’ve been working on in preseason.
At what point did you realize coaching was going to be the next step in your career?
When you’re a bit younger, you’re just thinking about playing. I think throughout my playing career, I always, in the back of my mind, knew I wanted to stay in the game. Probably from early to mid-20s, I knew that I wanted to be a head coach. I’ve barely started. [I’m] taking a lot more information in on the coaches I work with, really just seeing how they work, seeing which ones would do things which I felt I’d do as a coach, [and] which one or two things I wouldn’t do as a coach.
D.C. United hasn’t clinched a playoff spot since 2019. What do you think it will take to get back to that level of competition?
I think commitment and hard work is what I expect from the players, and the players know that. Obviously, make sure there are individual moments from players, but I think to do it, we have to do it as a team. We have to be together as a team. The players have really shown some good signs of that throughout the preseason. We are improving. To get there, we have to stick together to make sure we do it.
Feature image courtesy D.C. United
This story originally ran in our April issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
