Joe Wright Published on Nov. 13, 2018 Nov. 13, 2018 Wayne Rooney has defended the Football Association’s (FA) decision to grant him the chance of a farewell outing for England, saying he turned down the chance to do so before the World Cup to ensure the timing was right. Rooney, England’s former captain and all-time leading goalscorer, is due to come on in the second half of Thursday’s friendly match with the United States at Wembley to win his 120th and final cap. There has been some criticism of the decision to grant the 33-year-old a special appearance, with his last outing for England coming two years ago, in the 3-0 win over Scotland in qualifying for Russia 2018. But Rooney hopes to set a trend for England players being recognised for their careers, having discussed the best course of action with the FA over the past year. “We were speaking for about 12 months over the different ideas and there was an opportunity to do the game before the World Cup, which I didn’t feel was right and this we both felt was the right time,” he told a news conference. “The players were preparing for the biggest tournament…