And Rashford surprised Thomas Tuchel’s side while England completed their final preparations at Mexico City’s Club Universitas Nacional as they try to adapt to the high altitude. The 28-year-old enjoyed a loan spell at Barcelona last season, where he showed off his extraordinary skills in the rondo. After receiving the ball from John Stones, Rashford flicked it on, controlled it and released it with a quick touch to find Morgan Rodgers’ pass. Crucially, he left Ezri Konsa at the mercy of Aston Villa’s defenders as they lunged at him in a desperate attempt to steal the ball.
Rashford burst out laughing at his execution, Jed Spence could only defend his mouth, and Jarrell Quansah, Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Dan Byrne immediately put their hands to their heads. England captain Kane ended up collapsing to the ground in laughter, with Rashford marching off in exactly the same way.
After belatedly closing his legs, Konsa simply ran away. Despite the reaction from England’s players, they don’t seem too shocked by Rashford’s actions. Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka has previously said Rashford is hopeless when it comes to giving defenders trouble. “I have to say Lassie. Lassie is very good at the rondo,” he said.
“He rarely gets inside and every time I get in the box he has to nutmeg someone, at least one person,” while Jordan Henderson also said, “Lassie will probably get the most megs.”
Rice similarly praised the Manchester United academy graduate, saying: “Rashford plays very well in the box. He’s very fluid in the box, very sharp with his feet. He finds little pockets to put passes in.”
Rashford has featured in England’s last two games against Panama and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and will be hoping to retain his place for a third successive game. He is competing with Anthony Gordon for the left wing spot.
England were forced to endure drums and fireworks outside their hotel on Saturday night, but Tuchel refused to use that as an excuse. Ahead of the incident, Tuchel insisted his team had a chance to get some rest.
The player said: “There were no problems tonight and I think FIFA took care of the situation. We have security around the hotel so I’ll sleep well at night. I don’t want to talk about problems that don’t exist yet. I’ll accept them if they arise. The best thing to do is to relax and calm down. Kick-off is at 6 o’clock so if you miss a few hours of sleep you’ll still have time to get another one in the middle of the night.”
“What I’ve experienced so far has been very respectful and emotional towards the team and very supportive. So we’re very respectful of everyone. We expected to be treated with respect and we were. It was even better than I expected.”
