If England fans didn’t already have enough to dream about, Marcus Rashford just gave them another point of imagination to add to their list.
Rashford debuted for England’s national soccer team Friday in its exhibition game against Australia and scored after just 135 seconds. Rashford, an 18-year-old striker who plays club soccer for Manchester United, gave the Three Lions an early lead when he volleyed Raheem Sterling’s deflected cross past goalkeeper Matt Ryan in the third minute.
Only Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen have scored goals for England at a younger age than Rashford.
Rashford’s goal adds a fresh chapter to his meteoric rise. Just 92 days prior to this goal, Rashford debuted for Manchester United as a largely unknown teenage striker. Clinical finishing and youthful exuberance have turned him into the proverbial “next big thing.”
England manager Roy Hodgson shocked the world earlier this month by including Rashford in England’s provisional squad for the 2016 UEFA European Championship, which runs from June 10 to July 10. Hodgson added further surprise by starting Rashford against Australia.
We’ll learn next week whether Rashford makes Hodgson’s final cut for Euro 2016, but the teenager’s goal will boost the volume of those “Rashford for England” cries we’ve been hearing for the last couple months.
And why not? The children are the future, and apparently the present.
