Fergie doubts World Cup hangover

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is confident Wayne Rooney will soon shrug off his World Cup woe.

The United striker had been tipped to lead England to World Cup glory in South Africa after a prolific season with the Red Devils.

However, the Three Lions stumbled into the second round before being dumped out with a 4-1 defeat by Germany.

Rooney failed to score while looking far from his best, and he is not due to report back from holiday until 28th July - just 19 days before United's Premier League kick-off.

Michael Carrick (England), Patrice Evra (France), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia) and Park Ji-sung (South Korea) have also missed United's tour to North America and Ferguson believes they will all put their World Cup disappointment behind them.

"I don't expect a hangover,"he toldsportsnet.ca."I think there'll still be a bit of disappointment in the lad.

Expectations

"I think all the players coming back from the World Cup who didn't do well, who didn't reach their expectations may, I say, will feel that they've missed something.

"That's because the World Cup's only once every four years. That's the horrible part of that tournament.

"We have several players who have come back very, very disappointed. We've Patrice Evra for instance, Wayne Rooney of course, and Nemanja Vidic."

Ryan Giggs is also hoping United's international stars are firmly focused on club commitments as they aim to grab the Premier League title back from Chelsea next season.

"It's always difficult after a World Cup because the players who have been involved in the tournament have time off,"he toldThe Sun.

"You just hope there's no hangover from South Africa and everyone can hit the ground running.

"Hopefully, our players will come back refreshed and we can get off to a good start."

Hernandez arrival

A notable exception is Mexico striker Javier Hernandez, who scored two goals in four appearances in South Africa and is set to link up with his new team-mates this summer.

United announced in April they had agreed a deal to sign the 22-year-old from Chivas and Ferguson intends to give him an early chance to impress.

"I think one player who will come back quite positive because he had a good World Cup was young Javier Hernandez,"he said.

"I think he did very well and he surprised a lot of people.

"So whereas we've got some disappointments from players like Wayne, Nemanja and Patrice, I think we're going to have a positive effect from Javier."

Source