John Rooney on his American dream - it would be great to be more than just Wayne's brother

By Mike Dickson for the Daily Mail

In a whole season he will earn perhaps a fifth of what his brother takes home in a week, but that is not the only thing that divides John Rooney from Wayne.

They really are oceans apart, with John quietly trying to make his way on the other side of the Atlantic, far removed from the melodrama that constantly envelopes his older sibling, the most famous player in English football.

If you can make it here: John Rooney at the Red Bulls' stadium in Harrison, New Jersey

We find John on a windswept college campus in the New Jersey suburb of Montclair where a few dozen souls, mostly parents of those involved, turn out on a Sunday morning as his New York Red Bulls reserve team take on the University of Virginia.

The muscular Rooney gait and firm-chinned determination of the foraging midfielder would be unmistakeable to many but this is, in all senses, somewhere very far removed from Wayne's world.

As his enterprising 20-year-old brother is happy to admit, that is exactly the way he wants it to be. John Rooney is now more than three months into his American voyage. It may prove to be a more real adventure than the muchdetailed journey taken by the one English Major League Soccer player with a name more famous than his, that of David Beckham.

'I've come out here both to build my career and to have a new experience, it's more chilled out here for me, it's just me, playing for myself,' says Rooney in a soft, strongly accented voice.

His manner is notably polite, hardly the stuff of snarling into TV cameras. 'It would be great one day to be known for myself and not just because of my brother. That's what I'm out here to do, build something on my own.'

A considerable step forward was taken recently, when he made his first-team debut by coming off the bench for the last minute of the Red Bulls' 3-0 win over San Jose Earthquakes.

Rooney has started from scratch in America, plucked from MLS's complex draft system in early January by one of its most glamorous franchises, where Thierry Henry is the headline act.

Under the terms of the draft, which mirrors the operation of more traditional American sports, Rooney could just as easily have ended up in somewhere like Kansas or Ohio but, to his delight, the world's most vibrant city came calling. Not that his existence in New York vaguely resembles the Beverly Hills lifestyle of the Beckhams or that of Wayne in his Prestbury mansion.

Team mates: Thierry Henry and John Rooney

John lives in the commuter town of Secaucus, just across the Hudson river from the Manhattan skyline. Home is a small house rented by the club, which he shares with Corey Hertzog, a young striker from rural Pennsylvania, and Marcos Paullo, a 21-year-old Brazilian midfielder.

The young Rooney does not own a car yet and relies on lifts from his mates to get to training or takes the train. He is unlikely to earn much more than the $42,000 minimum salary that the league pays to youngsters on their roster.

'There are six or seven rookies in the squad and we all live together in the two houses. It's great to bond with them and do stuff together. We have a laugh and good fun,' said John. 'When I first came out here they struggled to understand my accent but it's getting better. Marcos doesn't speak much English and I don't speak any Portuguese but we get on well. I'm teaching him Scouse.

'We've got a ping-pong table so we play a lot of that, plus we play computer games and we go out into the city sometimes.

'You do your own washing and cooking here. I suppose you can't rely on your parents all your life. I cook a bit of pasta, vegetables. I'm not a great cook, I've only just started since I've been out here.'

You have to admire a boy from Croxteth, whose career had not taken him further than a few appearances for Macclesfield Town, for having the vim to take such a big step, which began when he trialled for the teams at Portland and Seattle.

'I actually thought I would be more homesick than I was, but I've been here three months and it's felt more like three weeks so far. Mum and Dad stayed out for my first week here. I went into the city with my mum. It's unbelievable the first time you see it - crazy - the buildings are all so massive it takes a lot of getting used to. I'm looking forward to watching the basketball and I'm a big boxing fan.

'I phone my parents every day and I speak to Wayne a lot, he is always ringing to find out how I'm getting on. It helps that my family were so supportive of coming out here. We're a big family so a lot of my mates are cousins and they all told me I should go for it.'

Rooney, who says his interest in American soccer was first kindled by Beckham's decision, has had to endure some cynicism about his move, seen possibly as a publicity stunt, or a low-cost punt that he might one day shift more replica shirts at the Red Bulls' impressive new arena.

Oh brother: (from left) John, Graeme and Wayne Rooney all join Everton in 1998

He was, however, reported to be one of the better players in the draft trials and has benefited from the MLS drive to get more youngsters on to staffs, domestic and foreign, rather than old lags seeing out their careers.

Hans Backe, Sven Goran Eriksson's former No 2 at Notts County who is the Red Bulls manager, has put him on the first-team bench four times already in this new season. Backe said: 'He's a strong player, a good passer and has a good knowledge of the game, although he needs to work on being a bit quicker and twisting and turning more sharply. I do see a first-team future for him here.'

Rooney says he has no ambitions beyond cracking it in America.

'I just want to get in the Red Bulls first team. Training alongside someone like Thierry Henry is brilliant and I couldn't have experienced that otherwise. He's a really nice person and always gives advice.'

Against a University side of nearprofessional standard (don't confuse American college sport with its UK counterpart), Rooney was one of the best players in a 3-1 victory.

Soccer is undoubtedly growing in America, although it remains an exception to Sinatra's adage that if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere. For John Rooney it will always be hard to escape the over-arching shadow of his brother, but you cannot fault his enterprise in trying.