Marcus Rashford returned to the England squad for the March internationals after impressing on loan at Aston Villa.
After losing his place in the England squad under Gareth Southgate, Thomas Tuchel included Marcus Rashford in his first squad selection for their World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
Rashford made his first appearance for England since the beginning of 2024 when he made a 15-minute camo in a 1-0 defeat to Brazil.
The jury is out as to whether Rashford took his opportunities and will keep his place in the Three Lions line-up.
In each of the two games, on the left flank, Rashford played just shy of 80 minutes but was ineffective against weaker opposition.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Ian Wright gives damning assessment of Marcus Rashford return
Newly appointed England head coach Thomas Tuchel has given Marcus Rashford a chance to rebuild his international career, but he needs to show more end product to cement a place in the team.
Even without the injured Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon – England are not short of options in wide areas. This means Rashford has plenty of reason to be looking over his shoulder ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Former England international Ian Wright is one of the more supportive pundits when it comes to Rashford. However, he was more convinced by Morgan Rodgers’ contributions and feels the United loanee might have wasted his chance under Tuchel.
More United News
Speaking on Wrighty’s House, the ex-Arsenal star initially praised Rodgers before giving a damning assessment of Rashford’s performances on his England return.
“He [Rogers] was trying to beat them,” Wright said. “He was trying to get crosses in and he’s done that, and that is why I thought with Marcus [Rashford] – you know what know I mean?
“The ball gets to him and I’m thinking, right, yes, go, and it feels like he’s going to do it, then he stops and then he comes back.
“There’s something that’s stopping him from – he’s got to play like he’s going to fail.
“If I go take this guy on and he tackles me, he tackles me – but I might get past him and then when he does get past people, the actual decision is not great.
“So I think that he’s very fortunate to get those two games. But we need the Morgan Rogers’ energy who’s coming into the squad. He’s ready to go. He knows exactly where he is in his head.
“And he knows what he’s got to do. And I think that Tuchel will put even more pressure on those wide players to come on and do something.
“And that is what I’m looking forward to, that is where the excitement, what he keeps talking about is coming from, people just doing it.
“If Marcus carried on taking him on and made it exciting, got some crosses in, you’d think, yeah, but it just feels like, right, you’ve had two goes there, my friend.
“We’re going to have to bring someone else in, because again, it’s 18 months.”
Rashford in hunt for consecutive FA Cup triumphs
Now, with the international break upon us, Rashford can return to Aston Villa and focus on finishing the season strongly.
Despite registering four assists since his move to Villa Park, Rashford has yet to open his account for goals under Unai Emery.
Rashford will hope to fix that when Villa travel to Preston in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
FA Cup quarter-final ties
Fulham vs Crystal Palace
Brighton vs Nottingham Forest
Preston vs Aston Villa
Bournemouth vs Man City
Moreover, Rashford is in the hunt to win back-to-back FA Cups after featuring in United’s 2-1 win over Man City at Wembley last season.
Rashford won his first FA Cup in 2015/16 before Louis van Gaal was sacked as United manager. He is now looking to lift the trophy for a third time.