ROONEY BACK IN ACTION

Wayne Rooney has nagged his way into making his first appearance since his World Cup quarter-final shame — at lowly League Two Macclesfield on Monday.

The Manchester United striker has not played since he was sent off for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho during England's defeat to Portugal in Germany.

But after returning to pre-season training with United this week, Rooney has begged boss Alex Ferguson to give him a run-out as soon as possible. Fergie had planned to hold back his returning World Cup stars until next weekend's Amsterdam tournament.

Fergie said: “Rooney is gasping for a game. He is pestering the bloody life out of me — so I will most probably play him against Macclesfield. Edwin van der Sar is also looking for a game — we'll look at the situation.”

United continue their pre-season build-up at Preston tomorrow: He added:

“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and John O'Shea will be back. I may give one of the main players half an hour and the ones who are looking ahead of the rest, the likes of Rio, something like that — but I'll have a good look.”