England manager Gareth Southgate says Marcus Rashford ‘played with swagger’ during last night’s win over Costa Rica.
The Three Lions beat Óscar Ramírez’s side 2-0 at Elland Road in their final match before this summer’s World Cup in Russia.
There was a number of solid performances on the night – further increasing Southgate’s selection headache for next week’s clash with Tunisia – however it was Rashford who stole the show.
The United youngster opened the scoring with a stunning strike after just 13 minutes, and was vibrant throughout, providing energy and dynamism in the final third England have often lacked over the last few years.
Rashford was awarded Man of the Match on the night, and subsequent to his performance, has had calls from fans and pundits alike for him to start for Southgate’s side against Tunisia.
And given Southgate’s comments following last night’s win, that could be a distinct possibility.
Scored a stunning opener ✔️
Voted @England's Man of the Match ✔️A good night’s work with the #ThreeLions for @MarcusRashford! pic.twitter.com/qA10BHDg1v
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) June 8, 2018
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, Southgate said: “Marcus is desperate to do well and we said to him and all the players we were expecting mistakes to be made.
“If they’re not, we’re not trying hard enough to take risks and be creative. If you’re doing those things then occasionally you get the moments we got tonight. He is a wonderful striker of the ball from distance.
“We have got great competition for places throughout the team – you saw that tonight. We’ve a decision to make for the first game, but we’ll need people to come into matches to accelerate them, and sometimes to defend.
“We’ll need that competition and we’ve had three weeks of excellent preparation. We have a platform to build into the tournament.”
He added: “What pleased me most is that Marcus enjoyed his football tonight. He played with a real swagger. He had a difficult end to the season, having to play on his own as a No 9 at times. He is still filling out – we sometimes forget how old he is.”