By Armstrong Vaz
Doha (Qatar), Nov 30 (IANS): A brace from Marcus Rashford and a goal from Phil Foden helped England to trounce Wales 3-0 in the FIFA World Cup and qualify to the knockout stage as group leaders.
On Tuesday night at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium after a barren first half, the English strikers went on a goal scoring spree notching three goals within a span of 18 minutes.
Manchester United striker Rashford started the scoring in the 50th and added his second one in the 68th minute, in between Manchester city's Foden scored in the 51st minute.
England topped the group after a 3-0 win over Wales and will take on African Cup Champions Senegal, the Group A runners up in the knockout stage.
England and USA from Group B join Senegal and The Netherlands, the two teams which made it to the last 16 stage from Group A. Other teams which have qualified for the knockouts till date are brazil, Portugal and France, all the three having made it to the next stage with a game to spare as they have won two of the three group matches.
The US, returning to the World Cup for the first time in eight years, finished with five points with one win and two draws from Group B and sailed into the knockouts as group runners up and will face The Netherlands, the winners of Group A. The USA had two draws, 1-1 with Wales and 0-0 against England.
Iran, who were thrashed 6-2 by England but recovered to beat Wales 2-0, finished with three points, for the 2-0 win over Wales, who were returning to the World cup after a 64 years absence, lost all their league matches.
After a sedate first half, the game sprung to life thanks to the three goals from England.
The Three Lions opened the scoring with a magnificent strike from the England forward. Rashford took a couple of steps and whipped a shot over the wall and past the diving Danny Ward in Wales goal for his second goal of the tournament and his first direct free-kick goal for England at the 2022 World Cup.
A minute later, Foden delivered on the goal scoring front of a move fashioned by Rashford and Harry Kane, the former wins the highball and the latter strokes a low cross across the face of goal that Foden can't miss, 2-0.
Rashford added a personal second and the team's third. The move started deep from the England defence and Kalvin Phillips launched the ball forward with precision to the Manchester United forward. Rashford did not disappoint as he carried forward the ball and in a swift action moving inside and finishing off with a low shot.