Eric Dier has backed Marcus Rashford to excel at next year’s World Cup after the 19-year-old rescued England against Slovakia at Wembley.
Manchester United forward Rashford was dispossessed inside his own half shortly before Stanislav Lobotka put the visitors ahead after just three minutes.
But the youngster recovered well and set up Eric Dier for the equaliser before thumping home the second-half winner.
Dier said: “It was not so good to begin with, but it got better!
“He did very well. He showed a lot of character to make a mistake for them to score and then come back and score the winner.
“It gets even closer to the World Cup and hopefully he will shine there as well.”
The 2-1 victory leaves Gareth Southgate’s side on the verge of qualifying for Russia 2018.
The Three Lions can confirm their place at the tournament with a win over Slovenia next month.
Dier added: “We needed the win today, it gets us closer to the World Cup.
“That is the objective and to do it in the way we did [was great]. It was difficult.
“We started really poorly as a team for the first 10 minutes, but to come back from a goal down and regain our composure and then get the win was fantastic.”
And match-winner Rashford was delighted with the way both he and his team-mates turned things around.
He said: “I was an important goal today. I think we started a bit slow as a team, and me on a personal note.
“But we got back in it as a team and got the win, that’s all that matters.
“We just had to go back to basics [after conceding] and go back to what we were taught and had worked on all week. In the end that is what got us back into the game.
“In games like this, you have to start fast because of the quality on the pitch and if you don’t you pay for it.”
