Rashford pushes for England squad

England manager Roy Hodgson has a big decision to make as he considers his Euro 2016 squad after 18-year-old Marcus Rashford scored on his debut and injury again hampered Daniel Sturridge.

Rashford scored the opening goal Friday as England beat Australia 2-1 in their final warm-up before the final squad for the European Championship is announced.

Hodgson raised a few eyebrows by including Rashford in his provisional squad after he scored eight goals in 18 games since debuting for Manchester United in February.

The move looked to be genius though when the teen took less than three minutes to open his England account.

But if it is enough to make him part of the final 23-man group remains the big question.

"Let's wait and see," Hodgson said after the match. "I've got until Tuesday to name my squad but he wouldn't be out of place in anyone's 23."

Starting up front at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, Rashford needed just 138 seconds to volley home from close range and become England's youngest debutant goal scorer.

Wayne Rooney came on to start the second half, moving Rashford out to the wing where he was part of the build-up to the second goal.

His dummy set Raheem Sterling free down the left and he crossed to Rooney, who drilled a shot from 20 metres into the roof of the net.

"Once again we used two systems," Hodgson said. "The system in the second half worked slightly better.

"We needed to look at Rashford on the left-hand side to see if he can be an interesting alternative for us there.

"I got the answers I wanted."

Whether Rashford goes to France may depend on Sturridge, who started upfront for England in the last World Cup but has barely played for the national side since because of injury.

The Liverpool striker sat out the Australia game with a calf injury and Hodgson said he would wait to see how Sturridge fares over the next few days before making any decision.

"Sturridge has a minor injury and we hope it will settle down tomorrow," he said.

"He'll be doing extra training on Sunday and he'll be throwing his hat into the ring.

"It looks like 25 players will be asking for a seat on the plane and that I'm going to have to disappoint two of them."

Even if one of those is Rashford, the England manager has taken notice.

"I'm delighted for Marcus Rashford and delighted that he's received such praise," Hodgson said.

"I'm also delighted that my decision to thrust him into the side was not proved to be ridiculous."