Marcus Rashford believes the “nasty feeling” England experienced at Euro 2016 will motivate the squad to perform better at the World Cup.
England departed from the European Championship in humiliating circumstances, losing 2-1 against Iceland in the last-16 stage which led to the immediate resignation of Roy Hodgson as manager and, for many, the national team reaching a new low.
Eleven members of that squad are also part of England’s party for the finals in Russia, including Rashford, whose displays as a callow 18-year-old striker were one of the few positives from the campaign in France.
However, the Manchester United player does not look back at the experience with great fondness given the manner of the national team’s shock elimination.
“The feeling of losing is a nasty feeling,” Rashford said. “When you speak about [it], people don’t understand. So definitely we’ll take all the things that happened at that tournament into the next one because that is one of the important things to spur us.
“The main thing is to go into a tournament with confidence in ourselves. The easiest way to get that is through performances but we know each individual is working hard in training so we are going to be confident going into the tournament.”
Rashford came on as a 73rd‑minute substitute in the 2-1 victory against Nigeria at Wembley on Saturday and came close to scoring with a well‑directed header. He will hope to feature again when England face Costa Rica at Elland Road on Thursday in England’s final friendly before they depart for their World Cup base in Repino on 12 June, six days before the opening group game against Tunisia in Volgograd.
“It’s a massive excitement [to play at a World Cup],” Rashford said. “The squad is very young and a lot of us are looking forward to taking the next step in our careers. Everyone is ready to go and I expect us to go there and express ourselves.”
