Marcus again out of training

“Thanks for the messages I’ve been getting,” he posted on Wednesday evening. “Picked up a slight niggle but nothing to worry about #ThreeLions”

While the knee issue does not seem too serious, it may well extinguish Rashford’s hopes of being in the line-up to face Tunisia on Monday.

The 20-year-old had bolstered his chances of starting the Group G opener with a man-of-thematch display in last week’s 2-0 friendly send-off win against Costa Rica.

Rashford’s knee issue meant he was the only squad member absent from training yesterday morning, when England players and staff observed a minute’s silence to mark the anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire. Southgate’s team showed their respect for those who lost their lives in last summer’s tragedy in London before training, where a number of staff wore Grenfell green heart badges. Media had access to the first 15 minutes of training and saw the players warm up for the main part of the session. England were set to host their first press conference since arriving in Russia at the Repino Cronwell Park hotel, when Tottenham right-back Kieran Trippier was the man ready to go before the media. Denis Cheryshev of Russia celebrates scoring his side’s fourth goal of the game in the 5-0 win against Saudi Arabia at Luzhniki Stadium which opened the World Cup yesterday HOSTS Russia opened their World Cup campaign and with a 5-0 thrashing of a woeful Saudi Arabia, a result that will delight a nation desperate to enjoy their moment on football’s biggest stage.

According to FIFA’s rankings there was little between these teams as they kicked off, which suggested it would be a competitive game.

Sadly, the rankings also suggested it would not be high on quality, as Russia came into the tournament as the lowestranked hosts in history, at 70th. The Saudis were a whole three places higher but not for much longer on this evidence.

Russian president Vladimir Putin told us Russians love football – and there was no denying the passion on show.