Marcus Rashford believes England have talent to challenge at Euro 2020

Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate is currently finalising his 26-man squad for Euro 2020.

Pa Sport Staff
Monday 24 May 2021 19:01 EDT
Marcus Rashford is targeting success with England this summer
Marcus Rashford is targeting success with England this summer (PA Archive)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Marcus Rashford feels England have the talent, ability and self-belief to succeed at the European Championship this summer.

Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate is currently finalising his 26-man squad for Euro 2020 and will reveal the names on Tuesday.

Manchester United striker Rashford has 40 caps and 11 goals for England and was part of the squad which reached the World Cup semi-final three years ago.

The 23-year-old believes the current crop has learned from that experience and is better equipped to go all the way this time.

“We’ve got a good chance. The talent and ability in the team is as high as I have seen it,” Rashford told Men’s Health UK.

“A lot of it is down to self-belief. I was speaking to some of the players and I think the only thing that stopped us last time was entering that element of the unknown.

“We hadn’t been that far as a team before and we didn’t know what to expect. I feel like we’ve learned from those experiences, plus we’ve got a few new talented faces in the squad.

“We’re looking at a really good balance and you need balance to win trophies.

“We’re definitely more prepared now. If we go into a semi-final again we will control it much better – 100 per cent. We’ll try and play our football.

“Last time it just turned into ‘attack, attack, attack’ and we stopped doing the basics. I feel like we’ve learned from it and we’re a lot more capable of doing greater things now.”

England kick off their campaign with a World Cup semi-final rematch against Croatia at Wembley on June 13, and Rashford feels home advantage will be crucial.

“It’s a massive, massive advantage,” he added. “To play so many games at our home stadium and hopefully in front of our home fans – that’s just not going to happen again. So everyone is excited and ready.

“The main thing is to get yourself physically prepared because it’s tough – you play so many games during the season and then the tournament comes straight after.

“It’s something I’m so excited for and I believe in what the manager, the staff and the players can do.”

:: Read the full Marcus Rashford and Tom Kerridge interview in the June issue of Men’s Health UK, on sale from May 26 – https://www.menshealth.com/uk/fitness/lifestyle/a36519041/june-mens-health-new-issue/

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in