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Marcus Rashford Nets in Debut as England Edge Australia
Marcus Rashford scored two minutes into his England debut as the Three Lions defeated Australia 2-1 in a tune-up for this summer's European Championship.
May 28th, 2016 | 05:10 AM | 1096 views
ENGLAND
The 18-year-old Rashford continued his meteoric rise from Manchester United obscurity to world stardom with a neat volley from a deflected Raheem Sterling cross just 178 seconds into the match with the Socceroos.
Rashford received the starting opportunity due to a Daniel Sturridge injury earlier in the week as he tries to make his case for Euro 2016 inclusion.
Second-half substitute Wayne Rooney doubled England's advantage 11 minutes after the break. From a counter-attack, the Manchester United midfielder was picked out in space from a fine cross from the left before taking a touch and lashing an unstoppable shot into Maty Ryan's near-post top corner from just outside the box.
Rashford was taken off in the 63rd minute to rousing applause from the appreciative fans at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.
Australia pulled a goal back 15 minutes before time through an Eric Dier own goal. The Tottenham man had just come on for Chris Smalling before heading a cross past Fraser Forster and into the England net.
Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland were held by the Netherlands 1-1 at the Aviva Stadium.
Shane Long stabbed Ireland into a first-half lead. The Southampton striker claimed his 16th for his country from close range after keeper Jasper Cillessen could only parry John O'Shea's powerful 30th-minute header.
The Netherlands dominated possession for much of the first half, but were able to create little from their share of the ball and it was Euro 2016-bound Ireland who had all of what few chances there were before the break.
But the Dutch squad got their reward five minutes from time -- Luuk de Jong scoring the equaliser to settle the score at 1-1.
Northern Ireland toppled Belarus 3-0 at Windsor Park.
Kyle Lafferty scored on his 50th appearance for his country before strike partner Conor Washington headed home to earn a 2-0 half-time advantage over the visitors.
Lafferty, whose seven goals in qualification fired his country to Euro 2016 -- their first major international tournament for 30 years, pounced when Stuart Dallas' cross was not dealt with by a defence that had not conceded in their previous five fixtures.
And it was another Dallas cross that led to the second on the stroke of half-time, with goalkeeper Andrey Gorbunov fumbling the centre to allow Washington to head in his second in as many games in Belfast.
William Grigg scored the third two minutes from time to make it a comfortable win for the home side.
Jaroslav Plasil, Milan Skoda, Roman Hubnik, David Lafata, Tomas Necid and Patrik Schick all scored as the Czech Republic thrashed Malta 6-0 at the Kufstein Arena in Kufstein.
Andrej Kramaric's goal helped Croatia clip Moldova 1-0 in Koprivnica. Slovakia slammed Georgia 3-1 thanks to a Adam Nemec brace and another from Adam Zrelak. Levan Kenia scored the consolation for the Georgians.
In Africa, Nigeria beat Mali 1-0, Togo topped Zambia 1-0, and Morocco did away with Congo 2-0.
Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC
by ESPN staff
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