Marcus Rashford scored a hat-trick to help the England under-21’s to a 6-1 victory over Norway.
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Nathaniel Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Lewis Baker were also target and England are now two points clear in Group Nine with a trip to Kazakhstan and a home game against Bosnia and Herzegovina at Walsall to come in October. England called on Rashford with just minutes to go in the Round of 16 against Iceland, and despite having the least time on the pitch out of any England player he was arguably the best player in that game.
While Manchester United fans may have been delirious when Marcus Rashford scored an injury time victor against Hull, one man who might not have reacted as well is Sam Allardyce.
Rashford nearly grabbed a second goal for himself in the 56th minute, after latching onto Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s pass and showing impressive footwork in the area before being denied by Rossbach.
“The penalty because that’s the first penalty I’ve scored since I became a professional player.”
First, Mohamed Elyounoussi was denied at the near post as Gunn beat away his fierce effort, before the Manchester City stopper was at it again, denying the same player with a fine save to his right from an effort inside the area.
The United attacker remains hopeful his performance can boost his chances of starting against Pep Guardiola’s side.
Unsurprisingly, Rashford scored on his U21 debut but to further compound Allardyce’s mistake, he claimed a hat-trick.
“As a young player you want to make the manager make decisions”, Rashford said, as quoted by Manchester Evening News.
“It means a lot [that Allardyce was here]”, he added.
On what impressed him about Rashford, the England Under-21s boss told the FA: “His mentality all week – he came with great humility”.
Rashford lit up the first-half with a quality opening goal in the 29th minute, and he added a slick second midway through the second-half, England’s fourth goal of the game, before completing his hat-trick with a penalty.
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Allardyce is keen for him to keep developing, and feels vindicated that the striker got valuable experience and game time in midweek with Gareth Southgate’s youngsters rather than be left on the bench or get only a short run-out as a substitute for the seniors. Daily Mirror and other English newspapers report that in spite of the big money signings on both sides, two young men who cost a relative pittance between them could decide who comes out on top.
