After being called up to the England squad for the first time in a year by Thomas Tuchel, Marcus Rashford has finally spoken out about his decision to play for England.
This past Friday, Tuchel announced that the forward for Aston Villa, who is currently on loan from Manchester United, would be included in the squad for the World Cup qualifying matches against Albania and Latvia.
In March of 2024, Rashford made his final appearance for the Three Lions in a friendly match against Brazil. It has been a year since he was called up to the squad for the last time.
In the nine games that he has played for Villa since joining on loan in January, he has recorded four assists, which was sufficient to propel him back into the reckoning for England.
Rashford’s international career appeared to be in jeopardy during the period between December and February, when he was effectively excluded from the United matchday squad. However, since moving to the Midlands, he has appeared to have regained his strength.
And just two days after assisting Villa in advancing to the quarterfinals of the Champions League with a 5-1 aggregate victory over Club Brugge, the 27-year-old now finds himself getting ready to don the Three Lions shirt once more.
To express his reaction to his call-up, Rashford simply posted the following message on Instagram: “Never stop believing. I can’t wait to get up and running.”
As part of his explanation of his selections, Tuchel held a press conference in which he lauded Rashford and elaborated on the reasons why it was a straightforward choice to include him in the England squad.
“With Marcus, it’s already a familiar face back in the team,” he explained to reporters. It is my opinion that Marcus has made a significant contribution to Aston Villa.
Despite the fact that he has been playing primarily from the bench as of late, he has been given two starts in the Champions League. Both the physical impact and, more importantly, the impact against the ball were impressive. The impact was impressive. A number of things about him were impressive, including his work rate, his defensive impact, his hard work in counter pressing, and his tracking back on his position.
I had a strong feeling that we should nominate him, that we should bring him in, that we should encourage him to continue performing at that level, and that we should not allow him to fall back into old routines.
“He was very impressive, and this camp is to bond with him, get to know him, and to push him to stay on that exact level.”
