Can match-winner Marcus bring the golden touch to World Cup finals?
JUST five minutes spent in the company of Marcus Rashford after his match-winning performance against Slovakia highlights the very real problems facing England at the moment.
But while fans remain unconvinced and there is a general apathy about international weeks, Rashford also offers an encouraging glimpse of a solution.
Still only 19, Rashford leans slightly away from the huddle of reporters in front of him, as though wary of a right jab of a question catching him on the chin. His guard is high, while short, sharp media-trained rebuttals ensure nobody can really open him up.
As it is, the sparring is only gentle. Despite some of the preconceptions about the media, here is a talent that we all want to nurture to the greater good and for the benefit of all, rather than send crashing to the canvas.
The line of questioning, therefore, is knockabout rather than knockout – but illuminating nonetheless.
Growing up, Rashford was not really into supporting his country. His first memory of England is Frank Lampard’s ghost goal against Germany in the World Cup just seven years ago. It was Manchester United he always used to dream that he would one day play for, not his country.
He is one of a generation of lost international fans that the FA must inspire to come back into the fold.
Born in Wythenshawe, Rashford was eight for the 2006 World Cup and missed out on following England in a major finals two years later when Steve McClaren’s side failed to qualify.
During his formative years, meanwhile, nine successive Champions League finals featured nine Premier League teams. Club football very much held sway.
“It was more a Manchester United thing for me,” said Rashford of his ambitions. “You don’t start to think about England until you are a bit older, 15 or 16 and start playing in the England youth team. That is when you start to dream about moments like this.
“The first World Cup I properly watched when my football brain was more fully developed was 2010 when Lampard ‘scored’ against Germany. That was when I started watching, to be honest – it was very recent. The last World Cup in Brazil I think was on holiday in Dubai.”
Rashford is so quietly spoken that at times the words disappear completely into the back of his throat, housed, as it is, within a veritable tree trunk of a neck. A physique more suited to the ring explains just how he competes as a boy in what is very much a man’s world.
What he is able to produce on the pitch – allied to Harry Kane’s pride, Raheem Sterling’s skill and the determination of Alex OxladeChamberlain – can transcend those entrenched club loyalties and make England relevant again for fans of United, Tottenham, City and Liverpool. They are all young players who have triumphed against the odds by snatching their chance; a collection of tales to get children dreaming of playing for their country.
Rashford’s story of his emergence from obscurity is more remarkable than most.
Manchester United had 13 players injured ahead of the clash with FC Midtjylland in which Rashford made his debut in February 2016 and it included Anthony Martial being injured in the warm-up. And that was not the full story.
“Really, he was also behind James Wilson and Ashley Fletcher, who were both on loan,” said England boss Gareth Southgate.
“I just wonder how many other examples of people hidden away like that up and down the country are there? Kids need opportunity, but when the opportunity presents itself you have to take it.
“Marcus hasn’t looked back. Maybe if you miss that moment, for some it is too late. Hopefully, with the summer we have had with our junior teams, clubs will have a bit more faith in young English players.
“What has been nice on Marcus’s pathway is it is all joined up. We used to speak to Ryan Giggs when he was assistant manager at United about which team to put him in. We felt the U21s would put too much spotlight on him and I think United were grateful for that. Then again, Roy Hodgson picked him for the seniors two months later, so that plan was out the window.”
Thrust into the senior squad and then the first team, Euro 2016 arguably came too soon for Rashford. He will never describe it as a “good experience” but does admit that lessons were learnt.
“That’s when we had real problems – hopefully we can be together for years and what we’re doing now is just the story of everything,” said the striker.
“We could be talking about much greater things in the future. For the players and for the fans as well, that’s what we all want.”
Here’s to him helping to make Russia 2018 one for young England fans actually to remember.