Wayne Rooney blindsides Micah Richards by roping him into bet forfeit made live on TV

If you live near the River Mersey, you are likely to be seeing Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards rowing past you very soon.

The England icon has had to stick by a bet made on live TV after Norway dumped Brazil out of the tournament on Sunday.

Erling Haaland‘s double was enough to send his nation through to the quarter-finals in North America for the first time ever.

But as the Norwegians celebrated, Rooney cowered…

He had said on June 30 after Norway beat the Ivory Coast 2-1 that he would row down the River Mersey if they made the last eight.

Fast forward a week and they have managed to do just that, securing a spot in the quarters thanks to superstar Haaland.

However, Rooney has been a good sport despite losing out and he has now committed to completing the forfeit.

After being shown the clip of him making the bet on BBC’s coverage of England vs Mexico, he joked: “Is that me?”

Before he added: “I’m a man of my word… Micah has agreed to do it with me.” 

But that comment appeared to catch Richards off guard, as he had actually not agreed to join him on the River Mersey.

Richards responded: ‘Have I?’, with Rooney then dobbing in host Gabby Logan too, saying: “Gabby has as well. We’re a team!

“They don’t have to paddle, but they’ve agreed to it.” 

Richards then went on to agree to the task, before Rooney continued to speak about losing his bet on Sunday.

The Manchester United icon said: “I’ll row it, not a problem.

“The only thing I’d say is because we’ve got a lot on, it might have to be the Hudson River in New York… if the BBC can sort that! But I’ll do it.”

The striking Viking

Rooney will have already known all about Haaland’s threat, of course, but he clearly didn’t expect him to carry Norway through.

He has though, and the Manchester City striker continues to set new boundaries when it comes to scoring goals.

The 25-year-old has now scored in 14 consecutive games for his country, taking his overall tally to 62 goals in 54 caps.

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Haaland is also now on seven goals at his first ever World Cup, sitting level with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot standings.

Norway will now be awaiting the winner of England’s delayed last-16 clash against Mexico on Sunday night.

The quarter-final will then be played on Saturday, July 11.

Rooney is going to be watching on, but he’ll have to be working on his rowing technique in the background…