England forward Marcus Rashford has been slammed for “blatant cheating” as the Three Lions beat Latvia 3-0 on Monday night.
Reece James opened the scoring for Thomas Tuchel’s side with a sublime free-kick on 38 minutes to give England a half-time lead over the Latvians.
Latvian striker Vladislavs Gutkovskis did miss an open net on 18 minutes after a mix-up between Jordan Pickford and Marc Guehi – but it was plain sailing in the second half as Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze added two more goals to put a gloss on the scoreline.
England were desperate to break the deadlock early on as Latvia effectively kept them out for a while with Rashford going down in the penalty area under a challenge from Roberts Savalnieks.
But England were not awarded a penalty and former Premier League referee Keith Hackett accused Rashford of “an act of simulation”.
Hackett told Football Insider: “The action by Rashford is blatant cheating and given the correct decision not to award the appealed penalty kick he should have issued a yellow card to Rashford for an act of simulation attempting to deceive the referee.
“Football authorities need to instruct their referees to take firmer action on these incidents.”
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Having already picked up a yellow card before half-time, Jude Bellingham lunged into a challenge on Raivis Jurkovskis, where he got little of the ball and plenty of the Latvia player.
And Hackett reckons the England and Real Madrid midfielder was “very lucky” to avoid a second yellow card and stay on the pitch.
Hackett continued: “Bellingham, already on a yellow card makes a reckless challenge on his opponent.
“It is a clear yellow card offence but the referee decides to take no action. Bellingham very lucky to be on the pitch.
“Tuchel really should do the wise thing and take Bellingham off. One mistimed challenge and Bellingham will get his marching orders.”
Former Premier League referee Hackett later added: “Well done Tuchel bringing Bellingham off.”
Tuchel made some changes to his starting XI against Latvia after defeating Albania in the previous match, including the introduction of Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, who completed the full 90 minutes.
On Rogers, Tuchel said: “I’m happy with him in general. He deserved to start because he trained very good and plays very good for Villa.
“I think in a match where we are so dominant, I think it can suit him more to play from the wing. Once we put him on the wing, he felt more freedom in the touches, and he can work his way into his dynamic movements.
“There was a little bit more space for him there than the half-space. It’s interesting because I learn about the players and I learn about the game and that’s good.”