MARCUS RASHFORD is hoping for a dramatic penalty-shoot at the World Cup – so he can earn redemption for his Euro 2020 penalty miss.
The Manchester United forward was one of three players who suffered heartbreak from the spot in the loss to Italy in the final 16 months ago.
But Rashford has made it clear he will step up if needed by Gareth Southgate here in Qatar.
Rashford, whose team face Wales on Tuesday, said: “I’m hoping that we get to take another penalty in the tournament. So, I’m looking forward to it.
“You never want to miss a penalty. I feel like it’s a great opportunity for forwards, especially, to score goals and obviously they are big moments and as an individual I’ve always been comfortable and I enjoy being in big moments.”
Harry Kane, who suffered a foot injury in the first game, has yet to score at the World Cup and Rashford is ready to take over if Kane is rested against Wales in the final group stage tomorrow.
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He said: “Harry’s alright. He’s happy. He’s enjoying his football. But for any forward you want to be scoring goals. I’m sure if he keeps doing what he’s doing he’ll score.”
Incredibly, Rashford scored against Iran with his first touches of the ball since missing the penalty against Italy.
While that game was played at 4pm local time, the goalless draw with the United States started at 10pm local – the same time as Tuesday’s match – and Rashford said he is struggling to get to sleep.
He said: “You have to adapt a little bit in terms of preparation with the late kick-offs. We have a lot of time before the game.
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“For me it’s not much of a difference to what we are used to doing. It’s more that it affects recovery a little bit. You are not having the best of sleeps.”
Meanwhile, Rashford was part of the Euro 2016 team which lost to Iceland,sparking mass celebrations among the Welsh players.
Luke Shaw claimed the reaction of the Wales squad, with the video being leaked online, “wasn’t nice”
But Rashford insisted: “To be honest we’ve not mentioned it. For me, any game in a World Cup’s a big game. We want to go there and give everything to win the game. We tried to do that against the USA.
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“They defended really well, their midfield worked tremendously hard to stop our players. They made it difficult for us and we couldn’t quite get the goal.
“It makes it more important to go and win this game against Wales.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
