Roy Hodgson hails Marcus Rashford's England debut

Friday 27 May 2016
Roy Hodgson

Roy Hodgson hailed teenage striker Marcus Rashford following his quick-fire goalscoring bow for England.

The 18-year-old opened his senior account after just 138 seconds to become his country’s youngest-ever debut scorer in the 2-1 victory over Australia.

Rashford started the game up front before being moved out wide in the second half and looked lively throughout until he was replaced by Ross Barkley just after the hour mark.

England 2-1 Australia

International Friendly
Friday 27 May 2016
Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Live on ITV

Substitute Wayne Rooney's 52nd international goal doubled England's lead 10 minutes after the break before an own goal from another sub Eric Dier gave the visitors a consolation.

And Three Lions manager Hodgson admits Rashford has given him a tough decision to make before naming his final 23-man squad for Euro 2016 on Tuesday. 

He said: "I’m delighted for Marcus and delighted that he’s received such praise. I’m also delighted that my decision to thrust him into the side was not proved to be ridiculous.

“He tired a bit in the second half but what a debut! Wayne Rooney came on to play centre forward and we needed to look at Rashford on the left-hand side to see if he can be an interesting alternative for us there. I got the answers I wanted."

With injury ruling Fabian Delph out of this summer's tournament, Hodgson will be forced to cut another two members of his party before England's final friendly match on Thursday against Portugal.

He added: "We knew Australia was going to be a good game to test us out and I hoped it would show up any problems we might have.

"Daniel Sturridge has a minor injury and we hope it will settle down tomorrow. He’ll be doing extra training on Sunday and he’ll be throwing his hat into the ring and it looks like 25 players will be asking for a seat on the plane and that I’m going to have to disappoint two of them.

"But it isn’t just a question of quality of player - it’s also about the balance of the team. There are a lot of factors to consider and we’ve been doing that non-stop in the build-up and playing two different teams has given me a chance to test some things out."

By FA Staff