Chris Coleman is not surprised by Marcus Rashford's England squad inclusion

  • Published
Marcus RashfordImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Marcus Rashford scored on his Manchester United debut in the Europa League and in his first Premier League appearance, as well as on his England debut

Wales manager Chris Coleman says he is not surprised that counterpart Roy Hodgson has opted to take teenager Marcus Rashford to the Euros.

Wales' first major tournament appearance in 58 years sees them draw in the same group as England with the two nations meeting on 16 June in Lens.

The 18-year-old was named in England's squad three months after making his Manchester United debut.

"I'm not surprised, I've watched him a lot and he is a class act," he said.

Coleman, who opted to pick Joe Ledley in his 23 man squad despite him suffering a broken leg on 7 May, says it is difficult to predict how Rashford will perform under the pressure of a major tournament.

"Some players go into the tournament on fire and they fall flat," he said.

"You see others come from nowhere, like (Salvatore) Schillaci for Italy in the 1990 World Cup and bang the goals in.

"It is hard to call it. Ability-wise, he is a good player, and has a real good mentality.

"I couldn't say what to expect. As soon as he's there he will have to adjust, as we all will."

Coleman, who signed a new two year deal to remain as Wales boss in May, believes star striker Gareth Bale has a key role to play in removing Wales' pre-Euro 2016 complacency.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Salvatore Schillaci was the top scorer at the World Cup in Italy in 1990

Bale joins up with the Wales squad on Wednesday morning after winning his second Champions League title in three seasons at Real Madrid.

The world's most expensive player marked Real's success in Milan on Saturday night by saying he was now planning to win the Euros with Wales.

"I thought 'cheers for that, a semi-final just will not do'," Coleman said. "That is the mentality we want. The mentality of achievement.

"Since we qualified if you look at our results it is nothing to shout about."

Wales have lost friendlies against the Netherlands and Ukraine and drawn with Northern Ireland since their last qualification victory, against Andorra.

"We went through a run of results where we were almost unbeatable, but we have tailed off a bit," he continued.

"I'm not making any excuses - we haven't had this one, we haven't had that one.

"It's international football, you get on with it, but sometimes with success comes a little bit of complacency.

"Subconsciously sometimes, but we are our best when we are right on it."

Around the BBC

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.