Now for the hard part: can Rooney sustain the aura?

So much for the brave intentions of David Moyes and Bill Kenwright. Now just let the Everton manager and deputy chairman attempt to suppress the fervour surrounding "The Kid", as the latter calls him after the crumpled-featured Twenties child actor Jackie Coogan. Already Rooney banknotes, emblazoned with his image, are being traded over the internet, and as far as England are concerned one suspects that something not far removed from child abduction, given his tender years, may be required when it comes to Sven Goran Eriksson claiming him for his squad for the South Africa friendly at the end of next month.

It is not simply that the teenage forward is blessed with a fearless nature that had Turkey's defenders Alpay and Bulent Korkmaz desperately backtracking and resorting to shirt-clinging, but that he proved such a liberating force to those around him. On Wednesday night at the Stadium of Light he enriched a team who began as though a world of hanging judges was seated, ready to hand down sentence, with a freedom and joie de vivre seldom observed.

You sensed Rooney's colleagues were suddenly illuminated by thoughts that had previously eluded them: yes, we can attack the opposition of whatever stature, learn to love the ball again and pass it accurately, and to feet; even Steven Gerrard, who appears to fear he will suffer eternal damnation if he declines to dispatch anything less than a forty-yarder.

Eriksson's diamond, while not flawless, proved a valuable asset in the 2-0 Euro 2004 qualifying victory, with David Beckham and Gerrard able to sashay into more central positions at will, and Nicky Butt regularly forgoing his more defensive duties and supporting his forwards with purposeful advances. It was undeniable that Rooney was the catalyst for this progress.

Kieron Dyer, who contrived to win a penalty in the final seconds after emerging as substitute, recalled the teenager's demeanour in the dressing room: "Before the game, he was just sitting there laughing and relaxing; he wasn't nervous. He was chewing his gum, the way he does. He couldn't wait to get out there, and itshowed in his performance. I think it helps there's a lot of Liverpool players in the squad, because obviously he knows them. Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Danny Murphy looked after him and made him feel at home. He joined in very well."

The Newcastle midfielder, who will encounter Rooney in opposition today at Goodison, added: "You'd think with people coming out with all these rave reviews [beforehand] he'd feel under pressure, but he just gets on the pitch and helps us gain a magnificent victory. He was absolutely brilliant again and I was just sorry for him that he didn't get on the scoresheet. Even his manager said he's too young and that he's still learning the game, but if he performs like that he can't be ignored."

The England coach will certainly not wish to do so, although one suspects that it had been with a degree of trepidation that he had applied a taper to the fuse, and retired well back to admire the spectacle. For 25 minutes it only smouldered as Rooney and his team-mates were partly confounded by Turkey, and partly by their own ineptitude, while Beckham raged and became embroiled in personal vendettas, behaviour which is manifestly contrary to the responsibility of captaincy. Then the Everton forward, who always promised to assert himself as more of a Wayne, John, than a Wayne Sleep, caught light and, in a sense, saw the light, appreciating that so few were the precise passes from his midfielders that he should delve back and instigate attacks himself.

If we are to be fastidious, a strict analysis of his display yields that he is somewhat flattered by the response. Some pundits were suffering from premature adulation as they burdened his stout shoulders with comparisons with Pele, Best and Maradona, who all almost instantly declared their right to be regarded as noblemen of the sport.

Of greatest concern is the fact that Rooney has now created an aura, an illusion of himself as a talismanic figure; one that will be expected by public and media alike to perform to anticipated levels on demand. Eriksson is aware that English starbursts can be like Roman candles: just transitory effects with the remnants falling to earth as ashes.

"You must always be very careful and not expect too much, too early, because you never know with a 17-year-old boy, physically or mentally," reflected the Swede. "Maybe his difficult times will start now. To handle them, you have to be helped by agents, your club and your manager. You have to be clever to handle it. But he's an exceptional talent, no doubt about that. He's strong, he is very good at linking between midfield and the front, and he can drop back, take the ball and turn with it. He scares defenders and is good at playing people in. It's not very often that you see a 17-year-old with that gift."

All true, but with any precociously talented young thoroughbred, one thought is always prominent in the mind of his trainer: will he train on? With that measure of talent at his disposal, you cannot blame the vigilance of his club manager, Moyes; it is cautious nurturing which is required, despite the amateur psychologists already proclaiming: "Nothing fazes him."

If we recall, something similar was said of Gascoigne, who for all his contributions to the England cause failed to truly fulfil himself, and Joe Cole, who is currently biding his time in the Under-21s.

Earlier in the week, Channel 4 screened a programme, Seven Days That Shook Sven, which was more of an epitaph to a departing leader, and a not very respectful one at that. Eriksson's riposte might be entitledSeven Words That Vindicated Sven: "Must pick that Wayne Rooney against Turkey". That decision has rescued a swiftly declining international coaching career. Whether it has launched a meteoric England playing career into the bargain will be fascinating to discover.