World Cup: has Marcus Rashford played his way into England’s starting XI?

Striker scores a world-class goal as
England beat Costa Rica 2-0 in final warm-up

One-Minute Read

So it was that England defeated Costa Rica 2-0 last night at
Elland Road in a game that rarely came to life. The highlight was
Marcus Rashford’s stunning strike on 13 minutes, the Manchester
United forward picking up the ball outside the visitors’ area and
lashing a thunderbolt into the back of the net that left keeper
Keylor Navas stunned.

Substitute Danny Welbeck added a second on 76 minutes when
he got his head onto Dele Alli’s cross and so England head to
Russia with a 100% record from their warm-up matches having beaten
Nigeria on Saturday.

How much will Gareth Southgate have learned from the
games? Nothing that he didn’t already know.

What he and the fans will only discover in Russia, when
the Three Lions open their campaign against Tunisia on 18 June, is
whether this young generation of players can handle the pressure of
tournaments in a way their predecessors couldn’t.

In both 2010 and 2014 England went to the World Cup
unbeaten in their pre-tournament friendlies, only to wilt under the
harsh glare of competition.

Will the class of 2018 also crumble
mentally?

Risk-takers

Southgate doesn’t believe that will happen. “Everyone knew
their roles and the collective effort of the group shows a really
good mentality,” said the England boss, who praised his team’s
approach.

“I said to all the team before the game, I expect to see
mistakes and, if I don’t, there might be a problem because we
wouldn’t be being as attack-minded as we want to be.

“They are going to make errors, but by taking risks they
show the glimpses of quality like Marcus’s opening
goal.”

Competition for places

Southgate described Rashford’s strike as “world-class”,
and added: “Rashford played with a real swagger tonight… his
performance wasn’t perfect, but he was enjoying his football and
that was good to see.

“I have 11 or 12 who are going to be difficult to leave
out. There is genuine competition for places. It wasn’t the
first-team versus Nigeria and a second-team tonight: we have
quality across the two line-ups.

“There are some serious decisions to take, but in a really
good way. If I was thinking I have no one to play in this position
or in that position, it would be a very different
situation.”

Ruben too raw?

Aside from Rashford, other players who impressed the
Elland Road crowd were Danny Rose, who was aggressive going
forward, and 22-year-old Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who showed composure
beyond his tender years, even if Southgate believes he is still too
inexperienced at this level.

“It’s still early for him,” he said. “He’s still learning
the game really, even as an England international, as he has so few
league appearances under his belt and is incredibly raw. But we
believe in him. We know the talent he has. You can see the ability
he has to hold people off, his speed of feet and the strength when
he is running with the ball. A super talent.”