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Rooney Answers for Carvalho Incident

World Cup 2006 is over, but just as all past World Cup tournaments, the aftermath will follow us further into the near future. One of the most infamous moments of Germany 2006 was during England`s match against Portugal when England`s key player, Wayne Rooney stamped Ricardo Carvalho and received a red card for it. Rooney spoke about the incident recently and insisted that it was not deliberate.

"It turned out to be Carvalho. Moreover, I was aware that my foot had landed between his legs, which, of course, is about the nastiest place to get hurt, but it was an accident. I could not believe that the ref, who was so near, had not realized that. Perhaps he was too near," Rooney explained. : `I`ll go to my grave and still maintain it was a complete accident. I had not intended to do it. I had my back to the player. I could not see him, or where I was putting my foot.

`If you think about it, if I`d done it deliberately, if it had been a definite stamp meant to harm him, the fella would still be in hospital to this day. But he was up on his feet in minutes, no worse for wear," the 20-year-old player justified.