Shaw to battle through agony

GARETH SOUTHGATE offered Luke Shaw time off from the England camp as the popular defender grieved his grandmother.

And Shaw is using her passing – shortly before England’s opening game against Iran – as motivation in his vital role in the nation’s World Cup hopes. He started all three group matches for England despite having to cope with such bad news.

Shaw (right) explained: “My Nan sadly passed away, she had cancer for a long while and, unfortunately, she passed away just before the first game.

“Gareth was really good with me, spoke to me and asked if everything was OK and did I need to have time away. So this World Cup means so much to me.

“I didn’t want to miss anything. I’ve had time to grieve. You could say it is part of my motivation – she was a really important part of my childhood, I spent a lot of time with her.

“She had cancer for a long while and had suffered a lot.”

Shaw will start the last-16 showdown against Senegal on Sunday and is likely to be joined by his Manchester United teammate Marcus Rashford after his two-goal heroics against Wales.

And Shaw said: “Marcus is so good, with the talent he’s got, he can be unplayable. Against Wales, he showed that.

“I think he needs to deliver that in every game he plays because he has got the quality that makes the difference – he’s an unbelievable player and a very important player for us and hopefully he can keep his standards high and help us go far.

“I’m very confident he can keep doing it. I see it day in, day out and he took his chance against Wales. He is a really important player.”