Saint Petersburg (AFP) – Marcus Rashford on Tuesday dismissed the idea that England are overly reliant on captain Harry Kane at the World Cup.
While numerous chances went begging against Tunisia on Monday, Kane was the one who kept his nerve, the striker scoring twice in a 2-1 victory.
England cannot afford to be so wasteful against better opponents, with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Jesse Lingard, Dele Alli and Rashford all expected to chip in.
Kane, however, remains the man in form and Rashford says there is no concern about depending too much on the Tottenham star.
“That’s always an aspect but I don’t think that’s happening in this group,” Rashford said.
“He gets himself in great positons and if we can find him, we will, and more often than not he’s going to score.”
Rashford is pushing for a start against Panama on Sunday. He scored a brilliant goal in a friendly against Nigeria earlier this month and looked bright when coming off the bench against Tunisia.
“It’s not the be-all and end-all not to start the game,” Rashford said.
“We understand it’s going to have to be a team effort to win the trophy.”
Rashford’s chances could be boosted by an injury to Alli, who will undergo a scan on Tuesday on the thigh injury he sustained in Volgograd.
Alli seemed to be struggling towards the end of the first half but stayed on until the 80th minute, when he was replaced by Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
“We had to keep monitoring Dele,” Southgate said after the match on Monday.
“He was feeling a little bit of an issue just before half-time but felt he could carry on and I thought the runs that he was making and the way he was pressing the ball was still causing a problem.”
