Rashford seals victory but dull England blighted by disinterest

● Fans show reluctance to turn out as Southgate’s side avoid fourth successive defeat

At least the Premier League’s top managers will be happy. Gareth Southgate gave their fringe players the minutes they needed on the pitch to keep them fresh for those seats on the bench back at their clubs. The rust, those few loose touches, a little lack of match fitness, all ironed out in England’s friendly against Switzerland.

Is this what playing for England has come to? It’s not Southgate’s fault, of course. He is powerless to effect change at that level as the Premier League elite continue to erode the very foundations of what playing for the England national team means, turning it into another outlet for them to warm up their underused players.

So if Ruben Loftus-cheek, Danny Rose or Fabian Delph are needed off the bench, or Chelsea, Spurs or Manchester City are struck down with injuries in their position, they will be readier than had England not provided a runout.

Even Marcus Rashford had been dropped by Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho after their first two games, yet turned up for England and scored two goals, handed the

0 Marcus Rashford scores the only goal of the match as England squeeze out an uninspiring victory over Switzerland last night.

opportunity against Spain in the absence of the injured Raheem Sterling and netting the winner last night when he stroked home Kyle Walker’s excellent cross.

It’s a shame he is banned for United’s next three domestic fixtures given his England performances, although it would not have been a surprise to see him relegated by Mourinho once again on his return.

The result at least prevented Southgate earning the unwanted record of becoming the first England manager to lose four matches in a row. Talk about being victims of your own success, but going far in a World Cup means two of your matches in a row can be against one of the finalists and a third-placed side. Given all that occurred over the summer, it would have felt a touch unfair on him had they lost to Switzerland, yet another tough friendly test, too.

Which could easily have been the case had England not escapedpunishmentforsome poor play in defence early on. Jack Butland, pictured, in goal for Jordan Pickford, played the ball to James Tarkowski on the edge of England’s area and as the defender tried to let it run across him Switzerland striker Mario Gavranovic was able to nick it. The ball was passed to Shaqiri, who went early for the right of goal but found the outside of the post. It was a let off. Why does it already feel as though disinterest is creeping back around the England team, so soon after such a glorious achievement in the summer? On the pitch certainly, England’s reserves, with nine changes following Saturday’s defeat by Spain, and Switzerland did everything they could to turn people off football. Although Wembley was packed out for Spain, tickets

sold slowly for this match and it felt more than a coincidence that Ben Whilwell and Demarai Gray, two young players at Leicester City, were called up from the Under 21s for the game. Those in the stands arguably cheered louder when Chilwell came on for his England debut late on than when Rashford scored. If supporters are not going to turn out en masse three months after England reach a surprise LAST NIGHT

Uefa Nations League

Group A2: Iceland 0 Belgium 3.

Group A4: Spain 6 Croatia 0.

Group B3: Bosnia-herzegovina 1 Austria 0.

Group C2: Finland 1 Estonia 0, Hungary 2 Greece 1.

Group D2: Moldova 0 Belarus 0. San Marino 0 Luxembourg 3.

International Friendlies: England 1 Switzerland 0, N Ireland 3 Israel 0, Poland 1 Rep of Ireland 1.

European U21 Championship Qualifying: Group 2: Iceland 2 Slovakia 3, Spain 1 Northern Ireland 2.

Group 3: Finland 1 Poland 3, Lithuania 0 Denmark 2

Group 4: Netherlands 1 Scotland 2,

World Cup semi-final, when are they ever going to? Latvia 1 England 2, Ukraine 1 Andorra 0.

Group 5: Azerbaijan 1 Norway 3, Rep of Ireland 0 Germany 6

Group 6: Hungary 0 Belgium 3, Sweden 0 Turkey 1.

Group 7: FYR Macedonia 3 Armenia 3, Gibraltar 0 Austria 5, Russia 1 Serbia 2.

Group 8: Romania 2 Bosnia-herzegovina 0, Switzerland 3 Liechtenstein 0, Wales 0 Portugal 2.

Group 9: France 2 Luxembourg 0, Montenegro 0 Bulgaria 0, Slovenia 2 Kazakhstan 1.

TONIGHT

European Under-21 Championship Qualifying Group One: Croatia U21 v Greece U21

Checkatrade Trophy: Coventry v Arsenal U21.