Rashford could make England debut if fit
England manager Roy Hodgson is considering handing a debut to Marcus Rashford if the Manchester United striker recovers from a knee injury in time for Friday’s friendly match against Australia.
Rashford, 18, was substituted in the 72nd minute of United’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in Saturday’s FA Cup final at Wembley, having given an impressive display before being replaced by Ashley Young.
He had been named in Hodgson’s provisional 26-man squad for Euro 2016 the previous Monday, then scored on Tuesday in United’s 3-1 league win against Bournemouth at Old Trafford.
Due to his FA Cup final commitments, Rashford was not due to be involved in Sunday’s match against Turkey, which England won 2-1, but the national team play again against the Socceroos at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.
When asked if Rashford would be given his England debut this week, Hodgson told reporters: “We will wait and see. We don’t know how fit he will be. He took a nasty knock.
“He will join up with us but we’ll have to assess that. If he is fit, we can see what we can do from Monday to Friday, but it would be nice to give him some game time.
“We are trying to win these games as well, so we might have to make our decisions more in terms of what we need to do to win the game, rather than just giving people game time, unless we feel he deserves that game time.”
Former Manchester United defender Phil Neville has already drawn comparisons between Rashford and ex-England striker Michael Owen’s situation at the start of his career.
Neville told BBC Radio 5Live: “We’ve got good experience, with players who’ve been in the England squad for the last two years, but what I would say is that, in 1998, I didn’t think that Michael Owen was going to go the World Cup.
“You just never know, a sensational performance — and he’s got it in him because his temperament’s so good — could just give Roy Hodgson that nudge.”
