LONDON – Wayne Rooney converted a penalty kick in the 68th minute of his first game as England's captain, an uninspiring 1-0 exhibition victory over Norway on Wednesday night in front a record-low crowd at the new Wembley Stadium.
In England's first game since its worst-ever World Cup showing, coach Roy Hodgson's team rarely threatened. The goal came after Raheem Sterling was tripped in the penalty area.
Rooney's 41st international goal gave the 28-year-old sole possession of fourth place on England's scoring list, eight behind Bobby Charlton's record.
"We all could have done better," Rooney said. "In the first half we moved quite well, but they made it difficult for us and sat back and created a few opportunities in the first half. In the second half we started really sloppy and that was disappointing as we wanted to go out and really take the game to them."
Attendance was announced at 40,181 but appeared to be lower at 90,000-capacity stadium, given it included the 17,000 Club Wembley members who have access to every game. The previous lowt since the new stadium opened in 2007 saw 48,876 attend a 2011 exhibition against Sweden.