Daniel Sturridge got one. So did Wayne Rooney. And that, it transpired, was the sum total of England’s goals in the 2014 World Cup. They had only mustered one more in 2010, Steven Gerrard, Jermain Defoe and Matt Upson the scorers.
So when Marcus Rashford brought up a century of World Cup goals for England, it underlined how few arrived in the years immediately before Gareth Southgate’s appointment. Some 23, almost a quarter, have come for a manager often deemed conservative in his style of play. If that is aided by the generosity of Panama and Iran, conceding six apiece in group games separated by four years, a second-half trio against Wales means England have only ever scored more goals in two World Cups than their nine now: 2018 and 1966. They are the top scorers in 2022. Not bad for a team being held back by a supposedly puritanical manager.
