Wayne Rooney and his Manchester United teammates who won the Champions League in the 2000s really enjoyed playing the SOCOM game on the PSP.
In a recent episode of his BBC Sport podcast, the England forward shared that he and his fellow players strengthened their team spirit by playing a five-on-five strategy game during trips to away games.
He said:
Our defensive line – me, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, John O’Shea, and Wes Brown – wasn’t just about stopping attacks. We constantly communicated, made smart tactical decisions, and motivated each other, even after mistakes. That constant support and communication was a huge reason we were so successful. Ask any of those players – they’ll tell you it was key.
The game SOCOM, originally created by Zipper Interactive for the PlayStation 2, was hugely popular in the US. However, it didn’t achieve the same level of success in the UK, making it somewhat unexpected to discover that the football team, led by Rooney, were playing it on their PSP handheld consoles.
He continued:
The way you played that game showed what kind of player you were, specifically how you approached football. Michael Carrick was subtle and composed – he’d quietly make a play and you wouldn’t even see it coming. I was the opposite; I was aggressive and always right in the thick of things, leading the charge.
However, it seemed Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who was one of the older players on the team, wasn’t very enthusiastic about the match.
He explained:
Edwin van der Sar didn’t like it when we were noisy on the team bus. We’d be yelling out where everyone was, and sometimes giving instructions like, ‘Let’s surround their last player!’ It really bothered him, and he’d always try to move to the furthest possible seat to get away from us.
Manchester United hasn’t had the same success since winning the Premier League in 2013, and hasn’t been able to return to the dominant form they showed in the 1990s and 2000s.
Despite winning titles like the Europa League and several FA Cups, the team struggled last season, finishing 15th in the Premier League – their worst-ever result.
The team has had an inconsistent beginning to the season under coach Ruben Amorim, highlighted by a surprising loss to Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup – a team from a lower division.
Maybe Manchester United owner Jim Ratcliffe should buy the players handheld gaming consoles – it clearly didn’t hurt Wayne Rooney and his teammates when they had them.
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2025-09-22 12:07