England preview final Group B match against Wales – watch in full
Marcus Rashford speaks ahead of England's World Cup Group B match against Wales.
Transcript
okay good evening everybody and welcome to this media conference with Marcus rashford as ever please raise your hand use the microphone available and make sure it's switched on and state your name and who you work for and we'll start when you're ready Rob some Sky Sports News Hi Marcus it's Rob Dawson at Sky Sports News um look England went with their best against USA um Harry Kane in particular didn't look his usual sharp self whether that's fatigue or injury or whatever there's talk that he could be maybe should be rested for this match if he was are you ready desperate to step up yeah I think um I think everyone's ready you know and and we're into golf trainings training's been good for her that's that I haven't been getting as many minutes um but you know I feel like for this squad it's never really been an issue um especially since you know gareth's been been managing um you know maybe before it was a little bit of an issue um in terms of quality of training and people's dedication to training but you know since it's since he's been manager of England it's it's been good it's been intense and it's been challenging and yeah like you say I feel like you know me included everyone's ready to to do the bit when they come onto the pitch and if they get an opportunity to start how is Harry Kane does he seem okay in training no he's all right he's you know he's happy he's he's um enjoying his football of course for any far would you want to be scoring goals um so yeah I'm sure if he if he keeps doing what he's doing he'll score some goals look it won't surprise you that this game is being built by fans by the media by us a lot as the Battle of Britain you were there in 2016 when a certain Wales video went viral um celebrating the fact that England had lost to Iceland and were going home um I mean look look sure your teammate said it wasn't nice to see that um is it something that's been mentioned in the squad and does it give this game even an extra bit of Spice from your perspective um to be honest with we've not mentioned um for me it's in any game in a World Cup's a big game um so you know we're gonna go there and give everything to to win the game um you know we we try to do that obviously against USA I thought they defended really well to be honest um I think that their Midfield were tremendously hard to to stop our players um and you know they made it difficult for us and we couldn't quite get the goal so it makes it more important to call my Nest cam last one from me look I've got to ask you about Manchester United and in particular Cristiano Ronaldo an awful lot's happening at your football club while you've been out here um but you won't play with Ronaldo again um how do you feel about that um listen it's it's been an unbelievable experience to to play with him is obviously one of one of my idols and uh someone I've always looked up to so to have the opportunity to to play with him is is unbelievable and um you know I'll take that with me and it's something that I can I can keep him in Forever um so yeah I wish him wish him all the best um you know we obviously want to want to thank him for the things that he's done for for Manchester United um and yeah wish him all the best in the rest of his career Hi Marcus Alex Hill BBC um how have you felt since you've come back into the squad first England goal in the World Cup since playing in the Euros final yeah it's obviously been um been good for me um to be honest I'm just I'm just happy you know to be enjoying my football I'm not sure where they move any injuries or niggles so um you know I can I can only be thankful for that and yeah I'm just somewhere in to go you know um training's been been good it's been it's been good for me to meet back over the lads after being away from them for for such a long period of time um so yeah I'm I'm ready do you feel fully back to yourself now back at the top of your game um I feel like I'm I'm getting um I'm obviously a lot closer than than I was in in the last uh year or 18 months um so you know I'm I'm still working towards it I feel like um but yeah I'm I'm pleased with the steps I've taken so far what do you think has made the difference to help you get uh close to your best again listen it's it's probably my happiness but a lot of it was linked to the the injuries that I was that I was carrying um even on good days for for myself and and good days for the team when I was when I had them injuries I just weren't enjoying it I was always in in pain obviously and I knew what the end goal was going to be and it's difficult sometimes to to manage um you know I think once I had the surgery and you know recovered properly I can put it behind me and I move forward and that's that's what I've been doing is it difficult as a player sometimes to deal with the the fan pressure supporters speak about performances like the other night but your job as a professional way just to get out of the group isn't it yeah 100 um you know as as players we always want to play our best football but it's it's not possible you can't always play play your best football um and you have to learn to win games when you're not playing well um because like I said it's it's unrealistic to think that you you're gonna play You're gonna be the best team or you're going to be the best individual on the pitch every single game um so you know we we obviously we're not happy with the way that we performed in the last game um we know that we can do better but at the same time we're in a strong position in the group um you know it's not often that teams win all three games in in group games so um you know if we manage to to beat Wales which we'll be looking to do then it's it's a it can be considered as a good style perfect thank you Hi Marcus Carrie Brown being Sports some you went through all of that with your injuries so just a recap of the moment of coming on against Iran and scoring so quickly did you just talk it through us through for us and with all those injuries what it meant to you yeah it's obviously an um a great feeling to just pull on the England shirt again um it's something I've obviously missed out on and uh since uh since the orals um so it's the initial feeling of just meeting up with a large trainer and being around them at the hotel um getting back out on a pitch they're all great feelings and then the goal just cut off enough really um but yeah like I said I'm I'm really happy that I'm I'm here again and to actually score to come on score Your World Cup goal so quickly yeah great feeling you know when you're when you're on a bench you wanna get involved in the game as quickly as possible and you know probably for any player but especially for a forward the best way to do that is by scoring a goal so the fact that the the opportunity came so so quickly it's it's beautiful Harry MaGuire as well he had another outstanding game kept a clean sheet against a really strong attack from the USA like you performing so well under Gareth Southgate is getting a lot of criticism saying he's too pragmatic but he's getting performances out of players are not getting maybe the strongest performances at Club level how does he do it um I think a lot of it is the atmosphere um I feel like he's got a good balance between you know working hard and having downtime and opportunity to just relax and put your feet up um I think he's always been good at that to be honest since I've worked with him um even when I went with him in the under 21s it was it was the same you know so it's stuck to what he thinks works and what you know he speaks to the players a lot and he tries to get a balance between you know what he thinks will work well and what the players want and and what they think will work well and um yeah on that side of things is very good what was the discussion you all said you said that you were disappointed with the result of the performance against the US what was the discussion had um there's something we're obviously not happy with the result um I think at times in the game we played well um we was probably just missing the final bet to get the goal um but you know like I said before USA defended really well like I said the Midfield was was top for me um you know they covered a lot of ground they've got massive important roles to to do in that Midfield and um I feel like they defended the work for the pitch really well and they're obviously a threat on the on the break they have some some really good players on the ball and plays that going behind and and can offer a threat to the goal so you know they're not they're not a bad team um it was a difficult game um but like I said we're not in a we're not in a bad position in the group and we can't let one one game one performance um you know tell the story for for us so far in a sense you had that defensive display which really proved that this team can defend a great attacking displays put them together you've got the perfect combination in that I want to take you back to the the Euros which is tough for you because you were struggling with injury and then to take that penalty what was it like that reaction after you've done so much during covid for a whole nation a whole nation of children that were struggling for getting the government to do a U-turn you've talked about your injuries being hard but was it particularly hard to get that racist abuse after you guided a government and and helped so many people to then see that reaction how how hard was that after you've given so much um with some racism's like it's not good for you to go through it as an individual but it's not good to see anybody go for it um so it's it's it's more just disappointment you're disappointed in the way that people the fact that people have views like that um you know partly the main reason is because you don't have them views about anybody else um regardless of the the race or religion so it's it's like I said it's more the disappointment that people are thinking them things never mind saying and then actually after that Iran game it was really lovely to see that it was brilliant black young men that had schooled all the goals what is that Collective light with the young talent coming through like Saka and Bellingham that are such exciting players as well yeah I think in the squad we have a lot of young players but the the main thing is how experienced they are they've all played in a massive amount of of big games um you know a lot of them have won big trophies and it's experience that you need in a squad um you know if you want to go go forward and win this composition like what we what we aim to do we need to have players like that I've played in big games experience big big moments um and you know um they can they can pass that experience even even at a young age so to be honest I don't I don't see them as young players um I see him as players that are early on in their career yeah but like I said they've experienced massive moments in in their careers so far which not everybody gets to do and does this team really love coming up against the likes of Wales and Scotland these battles of Britain is there any more incentive that you need um it's always a massive incentive but like I said when when when your Ambitions are so high it doesn't matter the opponent um you know we're gonna focus on those and and try and bring the best version of us and I think if we if we do that we'll we'll win the game Marcus David lornstein from the athletic uh you said earlier that maybe before Gareth came in as manager there was a bit of an issue in terms of quality of training and people's dedication to training can you explain a bit more what you mean by that I just think that obviously I was only there for a short period of time before but the the standard of training wasn't as High um you know it's for players it's black and white if you're not if you're not training well you can't expect to play well you can't expect to go into games and and just win just because you you think that you better play as any other team so you know you have to you have to put the work in and earn the right to to win football matches and um you know for me it's it's it's it's two different sides of a coin and it's as simple as that and so you think there's been a bit of a step change in terms of quality of training and expectation level since Gareth southgate's been manager um there's obviously been a clear a clear change and a clear Improvement um we've obviously done much better in the in the in the major tournaments but even in the games that we that we play throughout the year with England we've we've played better we've had better results um you know it's it's not often a Come Away with with England and feel like we're we're gonna lose games um I think as a collective we're very strong um you know the togetherness is is really high and it's a it's a big feature that that guy with puts emphasis on um and yeah it's something that we've worked on and it's improved as time's gone on but like I said the the main reason why we're in the position we're in is because you know we have good players that are willing to to work for one another and and leave it all out on on the pitch and you know in the next game we'll we'll definitely love to do that and can I just quickly ask after the USA a game how it feels as players when you've put so much effort in to be booed off by your own supporters um it's listen it's it's not a nice feeling um but to be honest we don't need funds to build us to for us to know that we've not played as well as we could have um you know I feel like it's a feeling that that was Mutual amongst a group that we could have done better um and you know it's not just the the players that have that start the game it's the it's the full group you know we train you know for four days leading up to the game it's all of us you you do sometimes question would you have changed things in a build up to the game but that's that's natural you know as players we want to we want to win as many games as we can um so when you don't win um you know it's it's disappointing well you know like I said earlier it's it's not we can't be so negative about it you know we're in a good position in the group and um you know we just need to go and look to win the next game Hi Marcus Dan Kilpatrick from the evening standard um it feels like I think it's fair to say supporters relationship with Gareth can be quite up and down at the moment um there was obviously some booze in the nation's League campaign they were singing his name against Iran and then you guys got booed off against the USA the other night um do you think gareth's almost been a victim of his own success I mean raising standards so much and what's your message to fans that are kind of not convinced by Gareth or your style of play um to be honest I just feel like that's that's football I when you win a game you're the best team in the world when you lose a game you're the worst and um as players you can't view it like that you have to keep a medium and a balance um and that goes for you know your individual performance and and your performance as a collective um so yeah I feel like you know if we if we play well in the next game that USA game will be forgotten about and um you know it's up to us as players and and the staff as a group to move on as a collective really and the best way to do that is by winning the next game Hi Marcus uh Markman Brian's with pa um I don't think we've seen many 25 year old men that have played in four major tournaments for England from what you remember from Euro 2016 to now just just how has the team evolved and is it coming to a point where you think it can can hit its peak here um you know I think I don't think it takes a a genius to see that we've improved since since 2016. for me it's a it feels like a complete different team we've come on you know so much and we've learned a lot about ourselves um along the way so um you know I feel like we're a really strong team that has the capabilities to go on one against any team that we play against them you know we we don't we don't fear of anybody and we believe in our own qualities we believe in in what in how we can affect the the outcomes of of football games and like I said we stick by each other in in tough moments and in in the good moments as well so um you know it's it's up to us to to go and prove that we have what it takes to win it but do I believe that we do yeah 100 Marcus it's Dave heitner from the guardian um did you think that when you didn't get selected for the England squad in September that the World Cup dream was kind of slipping away and can you just talk us through the moment when you did get the call for the squad for this tournament um I was I had an injury in September to be fair so I wasn't um too confident in in going and I think even if I did get selected I would have had to have a conversation with with because I only want to be here if I can you know give a hundred percent for for my team and and um for myself so um yeah obviously it's I was disappointed because I felt I was playing good football at the time and to pick up um sort of a niggly injury like that is is obviously frustrating um and the timing weren't weren't good um but you know it's it's in the past I'm here now and I'm 100 focused on you know getting the results that we need to to run a tournament Hi Marcus James Robson AP probably the the main criticism from fans about this England team is that or Gareth is that it doesn't take enough risks yeah it's a team that's got to a semi-final into a final the last two tournaments do you think the singling team takes enough risks um you know like like you said we've we've should progression um you know I can obviously only speak on the time that that I've been here um so from 2016 you look at that performance against um Iceland and we got knocked out of the orals and it's it's a million miles off what where we are now like it's you can't even compare the the two situations and for me you can't compare the the feeling around the the camp um I think the confidence levels are high as they should be you know like I've mentioned before we have we have great players we have top players that are playing top four football against the best opposition in the world um week in week out so we can't go into games and think negatively um it's not something that the players do it's not something that the manager does and he always wants us to go and be play Confident football and um show people what we can what we can do um so for me we we play positive football and you know I think it definitely showed against Iran you know scoring six goals and you know for me people have I've seen comments say you know it's it's Iran there were top 20 team in the world um we've seen you know the smaller Nations have massive upsets in in the tournament so far so um you know going now and and scoring them goals and winning the game as we as we wanna it's um a big sign of you know what we're about we want to score goals we want to play attacking football and if we can kill a team then we'd we'd want to do that Marcus hi Henry Winter for the times we've seen you obviously play wide and also through the middle do you have a favorite position where you can do most damage yeah I think I think I I probably do most damage coming from the left um for me it does depend on the opposition and the way they set up and their personnel um but you know I feel like on the left I have the freedom to on the right as well to be fair I have freedom to you know go inside and make the runs and you know for me it's about just finding the the weak Lincoln in the back line and and trying to exploit it um obviously I enjoy looking for looking for spaces I enjoy combining with with players um so yeah it doesn't it doesn't really matter in terms of um output the m