Target Harry Why Rashford has captain Kane in his sights
Marcus Rashford has revealed how he has been trying to outscore Harry Kane in England training in a bid to become more prolific in front of goal.
But Rashford will not be trying to take England penalty duties off Kane, despite winning the battle with Paul Pogba to become Manchester United’s No1 taker.
Both Kane and Rashford will start England’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Bulgaria at Wembley today, with each man desperate to get on the scoresheet.
Former England striker Michael Owen has questioned whether Rashford has the natural desire to become one of United and England’s top scorers, but the 21-year-old disagrees.
“If you watch training, then you’d see how it all works,” Rashford said. “I could use Harry Kane as an example. He’s one of the best finishers that I’ve played with and whenever we do finishing, in my head, it’s about being as close to him as possible.
“So if he scores six, you want to score six, if he scores seven, you want to score eight. Little things like that are the bits that people never see. Even though we’re fighting for the same position, or to be in the same team, we really do drive each other on.
“He [Owen] can only go on what he sees. Whereas the people around me [know]. Especially when I was younger, the reason why you started playing is because you see things that you like and for me, it was goals and watching exciting people doing exciting things with the ball. I know what I want, what I want to become and what I will become if I keep my mind on it.”
Rashford, who has scored four goals in his last seven England appearances, was asked whether he is disappointed not to score even if he plays well and his team wins.
He replied: “Yes, it haunts you. When you play well and your team wins, of course you’re very happy, but when you go home, you’re automatically looking back at the game and thinking, ‘Where could you have got your goals?’
“It’s the same for when you score and you know you’ve had other
‘Harry is one of the best. For me, it’s about being as close to him as possible’
chances in the game, you’re looking [at] what went wrong and why didn’t you take the other chances.
“For forwards now, it’s completely changed, even [for] wingers if you want to call them wingers, they’re all sort of set and focused on the end product, which is goals and assists. It’s the way the game’s heading and it’s important. Everybody wants to score as many goals as they can because they’re the things that help the team.”
Rashford was this season caught in a penalty debate at United after Pogba missed from the spot against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Having scored one against Chelsea, Rashford took over responsibilities again against Crystal Palace, but his effort hit the inside of the post. He knows, though, there will be no confusion if England win a penalty against Bulgaria.
“Here, it’s a bit more simple because Harry’s record is unbelievable,” Rashford said. “That’s a way for him to get his goals and the squad support that.”
Rashford has taken on more responsibility for United, following Romelu Lukaku’s departure, and has also become a regular starter for England. But he is not concerned by the need to now meet expectations for club and country.
“I don’t think it’s something to fear. You need it now,” Rashford said. “If you don’t have that, it’s difficult for motivation to improve. You need players around you to push each other. I’ve never seen it as a problem for club or country.”
He also had a grim warning over the problem of bigotry in football, saying the fight against racism was “going backwards rather than forwards”, calling on social media platforms to get a grip on the issue.
“It seems things have been going backwards rather than forwards. It’s tough, but you’ve been seeing all around the world, people have been standing together and I think in this moment that’s all we can do.”
Rashford, who has been the victim of online abuse this season, added: “It is too easy to do what you like on the internet and any of us now can go on and create accounts and write what we want under anyone’s post and no one would ever know. If you have to show identification to create an account, that means everybody can only have one account.”