Wales had no chance of winning after a strong second half from England, which helped the Three Lions win the group.
Gareth Southgate encouraged Marcus Rashford and his England teammates to take more shots at goal in the second half of their 3-0 World Cup victory over Wales on Tuesday. Southgate was pleased with how Rashford responded to his half-time team talk.
All three goals were scored after his halftime speech, with fellow Mancunian Phil Foden’s maiden championship goal coming on minute 68 and Marcus Rashford scoring a beautiful free-kick before smashing home past goalkeeper Danny Ward.
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Rashford of Manchester United was let through on goal in the first half and had a chance to score, but his dink couldn’t go past Ward of Leicester’s reachable arm. At the intermission, the attacker’s manager advised him to exert more effort in the second half.
“We were a little bit disappointed as a team against the USA,” Rashford said to the BBC after the game. I believed we could have played a little bit better, and the only way to overcome that was to play well in the following game.
“We did that, I thought. We played outstanding defense in the first half and gave them nothing.
They had one chance. The manager noted that we had performed admirably at halftime, but that our goal-scoring opportunities needed improvement.
“In the first half, we had only two or three. We desired more in order to manipulate the keeper and continue placing ourselves in perilous situations.
With his two goals, the 25-year-old is currently tied for the most goals in the World Cup with the Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo and France’s Kylian Mbappe, who has only appeared in two games.
I wanted one in the first half, but the one in the second half was in a better position, Rashford said when explaining his reasoning for taking the free kick.
The next step is to maintain your composure and try to carry out the training that you have been doing.
“Moments like this, the greatest, the best moments, are why you play football. I’m having a great day. I am overjoyed that we have advanced to the next stage of the competition and I hope we can build on this showing.
“I have great expectations for this club, and I believe we can play even better than we did tonight.”
At 7 p.m. on Sunday, England will play Senegal in the round of 16, while Wales will be eliminated after placing last in Group B.