Marcus Rashford has got a call-up to the England squad for World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
This is the first time Thomas Tuchel, the new German manager of the Three Lions, has announced his squad for the upcoming matches.
Rashford, who missed out on the European Championships in 2024 owing to poor form, has been performing well for Aston Villa.
The 27-year-old forward has registered four assists in nine matches for Villa. One can easily assume that he is going to add to his 60 international appearances for England in the upcoming matches.
Marcus Rashford had a disappointing season for Manchester United
Rashford fell out of favour with United’s new manager Ruben Amorim and joined Aston Villa on Loan in the January transfer window.
Since then, he has proved his worth for Unai Emery’s side, which has qualified for the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League recently.
Rashford seems to be enjoying his stint at Aston Villa. Moreover, England have a paucity of quality left-wingers in their set-up.
Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze are both good players, but they have not yet been able to cement their place in the national team.
Jude Bellingham prefers to play as the No. 10 in England’s 4-2-3-1 and as was found out at Euro 2024, Phil Foden failed to shine on the left flank.
As a result, Rashford might find himself in the scheme of things yet again for England. He may feature in the squad as an additional No. 9, too, behind Harry Kane, as Ollie Watkins has missed out because of a knee injury.
England have a plethora of options on the right flank, with the likes of Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka – both of whom are unavailable – and Foden all enjoying playing there.
As a result, they would want someone as experienced as Rashford to prove his worth on the opposite flank.
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England are ahead of Latvia and Albania nations by a long margin in FIFA rankings and will start as the odds-on favourite to win the qualifiers against them.
Still, Tuchel surely has the 2026 World Cup in mind, as he was specifically brought in to help the Three Lions win it.
Tuchel has won the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and UEFA Champions League titles in his managerial career already, which makes him one of the most accomplished managers of recent times.
However, aside from Vicente del Bosque and Marcello Lippi, not too many managers have successfully plied their trade for both clubs and national teams.
There is nothing to suggest that Tuchel will not be able to follow in their footsteps.
However, as Rashford has shown often in the past, he is prone to having dip in his form at times.
Tuchel will have to address it and utilise him judiciously.
Rashford should be in the prime of his football career now and should have a target to attain at least 100 caps for the national team.
If he continues performing well, there is no reason why he should not be able to achieve that target in the future.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / Sportsphoto
Recording Date: 12.03.2025