Marcus Rashford dedicates goal against Wales to friend who passed away from cancer

  • Video report by Chris Hall

Marcus Rashford has revealed he dedicated his goals in England's victory over Wales to a friend who recently died.

The Manchester United forward scored two goals in the World Cup game in the Al Rayyan stadium in Qatar on Tuesday 29 November.

The 25-year-old pointed to the sky after finding the net and said afterwards that he was paying tribute to his late friend Garfield Hayward.

He said: "Unfortunately I lost one of my friends a couple of days ago.

"He's had quite a long battle with cancer, so I'm pleased I managed to score for him.

"He's always been a big supporter of mine. He was just a great person and I'm pleased he came into my life, really."

Openly gay MP wears OneLove armband at England v Wales
Marcus Rashford with manager Gareth Southgate. Credit: PA

England are through to the last 16 where they will face Senegal, and Rashford believes Gareth Southgate's squad is strong enough to mount a serious challenge in the knockout stages.

He added: "I feel like the ambition in the squad is really good.

"We have a good mix of qualities. We have a really good squad and a squad that is definitely capable of challenging to win the tournament.

"I'm hoping that we can build on this type of performance, keep improving and keep scoring goals and showing our qualities."

Rashford was happy with the way England bounced back from their goalless draw with the United States.

He said: "We were a little bit disappointed as a team after the last game against the USA.

"I thought we could have played a lot better and the only way to bounce back from that is to have a good performance in your next game and I think we did that."

England scored all three goals in the second half Credit: PA

On his free-kick opener, Rashford added: "I fancied one in the first half but the one in the second half was in a better position.

"And from there, it's just about being calm and trying to execute what you practice in training.

"They don't go in often but I'm pleased that it went in today."

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