Saturday 15 November 2014 14:26, UK
England manager Roy Hodgson says he had no hesitation in labelling Wayne Rooney - who is poised to win his 100th cap against Slovenia on Saturday - as an England great.
Rooney will become only the ninth player in England history to get to triple figures, following in the footsteps of legends like Bobby Moore, Billy Wright and Sir Bobby Charlton.
But the 29-year-old's mixed fortunes in an England shirt over the years have seen a debate over whether he qualifies as a genuine "great" for the national team.
"Any player who has played 100 times for England - you could probably take the number down to 75 if you wanted - deserves the epithet great," said Hodgson.
"We can debate until the cows come home who's the greatest and what greatness is but the way I understand the word great, anyone who plays 100 times for England is a great player."
Hodgson has seen Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard all reach the 100-cap milestone during his tenure as England manager.
"It's quite incredible that under my watch I've been able to congratulate four players on reaching 100 caps for England," said Hodgson.
"I'm delighted it's Wayne's turn now but it's very difficult to summarise in a few words what makes someone such a great England player that they can amass 100 caps.
"There's no doubt it's down to his quality and ability as a football player but there's two other qualities that I think are very important and that Wayne personifies.
"One is mental strength, and the ability to pick yourself up under the enormous scrutiny that all England players come under when you suffer some bad moments.
"And secondly is having an enormous passion to play for the country and to get through those periods when it must be quite easy for someone very talented to think maybe it's time for me to walk way - but they don't, they take the criticism and the scrutiny and come back stronger than ever.
"That's been true of all the players and particularly Wayne Rooney."
Meanwhile, Hodgson said that Slovenia - who have six points to lie second in the table - were probably shaping up as England's main rivals in Group E with Switzerland having underperformed so far.
"Slovenia have had a great start, beating Switzerland and Lithuania away, and they could easily have nine points like us so we're meeting an opponent who will ask a lot of questions of us," he said.
"But my hope is we'll ask bigger questions of them. We're under no illusions about that and we have respect for them but it's up to us to play the football we know we can play to tame them."
Hodgson hinted that there could be a first cap for West Brom striker Saido Berahino or Southampton full-back Nathaniel Clyne, but refused to confirm his line-up.
"The two of them are here to play," he said. "I have selected the team but when it comes to qualifying matches I don't want to broadcast it to everyone and give the opposition the chance to know the team earlier than they normally would."
