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Steven Gerrard has warned England will be World Cup flops if Wayne Rooney fires blanks.

And England boss Roy Hodgson admits Rooney and Co will have to cope with being bored in Brazil.

Rooney, who turns 28 on Thursday, was England’s top scorer in qualifying with seven goals. But he is yet to find the back of the net at a World Cup finals, and Gerrard believes that must change for England to make it through next summer’s group stages.

Captain Gerrard said: “It would make a massive difference if Wayne can do well at the finals. It will be the difference between us going home early or staying in the tournament a long time.

“Everyone who does well at World Cups has a scorer who gets four or five goals and Wayne is the man capable of producing for us.

“Wayne is in tremendous form and if we are to go to a World Cup, surprise a few and do well, then we need him fired up. If you have Wayne Rooney firing and scoring goals, you have a better chance.”

Rooney has struggled with being a long way from his family at previous World Cups. Hodgson confessed he gets bored at tournaments, but does not think there is an easy cure.

(Image: Jan Kruger - The FA)

“We will never solve the conundrum,” said Hodgson. “We’ll never get to the situations where players like Wayne and thousands like him say ‘there’s no problem with me being away for five weeks, I love every minute of it’. Because, frankly, you don’t. It’s the sacrifice.

“You want to go to the World Cup, you want, at the age of 50, to be telling your grandkids ‘I played at the World Cup’. It’s the sacrifice you make, unfortunately.”

Rooney was the fifth top scorer in European World Cup qualifying, four goals behind his Manchester United team-mate Holland’s Robin van Persie.

Hodgson added: “When Wayne came to the Euros, he couldn’t play the opening games, so he wasn’t 100 per cent match fit. And the way he was playing then is so different to the way he is playing today.

“If the question is: ‘do I believe Wayne Rooney has got the ability to be a star at this tournament?’ Then the answer is yes, of course.”