Rooney promises to control his temper

England striker Wayne Rooney vowed on Monday to curb his volatile temperament at next year's World Cup.

Rooney will return to face Poland on Wednesday after being suspended for the 1-0 win over Austria on Saturday, which helped England to qualify for the finals.

Aware he will be a marked man in Germany, the teenager told a news conference at Old Trafford: "In the past, my temperament has let me down a couple of times."

"But I'm a young lad and I want to learn from that. I don't think there'll be many problems in the future. I'm an experienced player and I want to prove that."

Rooney, who turns 20 on October 24, will get a chance to prove that on Wednesday when he faces the same Danish referee who sent off him for Manchester United earlier this season.

Kim Milton Nielsen dismissed the striker after being sarcastically applauded by Rooney for having given him a yellow card in a Champions League game against Villarreal on September 14.

Asked about the risk of another red on Wednesday that would rule him out of England's first group game at the finals, Rooney assured: "I don't think there'll be any chance of that.

"I think he's a good referee. He's been refereeing for years and has done a good job, so there's no problem there."

However, Rooney sees no need to change the hard-tackling style which characterises his game and which manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is anxious to keep.

"I go into each game I play wanting to win," he said. "One hundred and ten percent committed."

Rooney also denied any problem with England captain David Beckham, with whom he had a much-publicised spat on the pitch during last month's 1-0 qualifying defeat in Northern Ireland.

"Things happen, people have disagreements and that's it," Rooney said. "It's forgotten about before you leave the stadium. It's all been blown out of proportion."

As for Rooney's subsequent visit to see Beckham with Real Madrid, he said: "David's my friend and I went out to see him and watch him play."

BETTER PLAYER

Rooney believes he has developed as a player since last year's move from Everton and that he will be better equipped for the World Cup than he was for Euro 2004 in Portugal.

"I think I've improved a lot. Signing for Manchester United has made me a better player and when I go to the World Cup I'll have a lot more international experience than I did going to Euro."

"I want to go there and try and win the World Cup for England."

A goalscoring revelation in Portugal, Rooney limped out of England's quarter-final with the hosts after breaking a bone in his foot. His team subsequently lost the game on penalties.

Looking ahead to Germany, he said: "There's a lot of expectations for the whole team.

"We were close in Portugal, we got knocked out on penalties and were disappointed with that. We want try and improve on that."

As for Wednesday's game, which follows a poor run of form by England, Rooney said: "Obviously, I think we could be playing better.