RASHFORD FEAR

Striker suffers knee injury in England practice match

MARCUS RASHFORD has has been left sweating on his fitness for the opening game of England’s World Cup campaign after suffering a knee injury. Gareth Southgate arrived in Russia with his squad yesterday and revealed that the Manchester United striker, who excelled in their final warm-up game against Costa Rica at Elland Road last week, had taken a

knock in Monday’s private practice match. The England manager said the medical staff are confident the injury ‘is not too serious’, suggesting he should be available for the Group G game with Tunisia on Monday. But it remains a concern for Southgate when Rashford was pushing Raheem Sterling for a starting place, even though the Manchester City forward is favourite to partner Harry Kane in attack. Rashford was hurt at St George’s Park in the final training session on UK soil before the squad left for Russia. Southgate said: ‘Marcus took a slight knock but nothing too serious. But other than that everybody came through fine.’ Asked if he knew his starting XI against Tunisia, Southgate said: ‘If we were playing tomorrow I probably do, but we have another week of preparation and a lot of competition. That’s good because things can change very quickly — you can pick knocks up and there are one or two very close calls.’ England’s 23-man squad includes 11 black, Asian and ethnic minority players — the highest number they have taken to any major competition. There are widespread concerns surrounding racism on the eve of the World Cup, with the Russian FA fined £22,000 by FIFA for racist chanting in a March friendly against France in St Petersburg. Such potential flashpoints led to Tottenham defender Danny Rose asking his family to remain at home. Ashley Young will have his family at the games and backed the FA’s security measures to keep everyone safe. ‘I’ve got no concerns at all,’ the Manchester United man said. ‘I’ve got a family that are going out there. The FA have spoken to us and I’ve got every confidence in them and with family going out there.’