Marcus Rashford got another chance from Thomas Tuchel – but again did not succeed.
If you were to scribble your starting XI for next year's World Cup, Rashford would not be recorded.
And the frustrating performance of the 27-year-old in the 3-0 win over Latvia summarizes his struggles at club level in the past few seasons.
He created six chances according to the statistics – but it didn't feel that way.
The Manchester United Forward, currently on loan in Aston Villa, played with bags of positivity in the first half.
He had too much pace for the Latvian right back Roberts Savalnieks.
And he also supported his defenders in the rare cases who attacked the visitors.
Rashford certainly acted on the basis of the criticism distributed by Baas Thomas Tuchel because he was not directly enough in the 2-0 win over Albania.
Even so, the murderers pass was not there. And after he switched to the right in the second half, he barely had a kick before he was replaced by Curtis Jones.
Rashford is not the only player who does not cause any damage in the last third part during two matte English versions.
But the competition that left position is nowhere as strong as in the past.
The career of Jack Grealisk has deteriorated, while Phil Foden has performed too little for England and moaned about playing on the left during Euro 2024.
Anthony Gordon, injured for this game, would be your husband in that place if the World Cup started tomorrow.
Ebereechi Eze also looked decent when he came up and scored a deflected third.
But Rashford still has a chance – pure because his international boss seems desperate to succeed.
Tuchel has started him in back-to-back games, a luxury that he has hardly been offered for club or country in the last 18 months, and an indication of how far Rashford's star has fallen.
He lasted 74 minutes before he was replaced on Friday against Albania and only got five minutes last night than at Wembley.
Tuchel has only signed a short-term contract and although he has thrown Myles Lewis-Skell into the mix, it looks determined to stay with experience.
Rashford – who won his 62nd cap – comes in that bracket.
And when the German announced his team for these two games, Tuchel Rashford's Wortkrate praised for Villa – something he was often criticized for at United.
It is still early days for him under Villa -Baas Unai Emery. His nine performances have only recorded two starts and he still has to score.
The last time Rashford discovered that it was just his brace in the 4-0 victory of United on Everton on December 1.
When Rashford found his way past Savalnieks in the first half last night, his last pass was not good enough.
After swapping flanks with Jarrod Bowen after the break, he played a small role in the structure of the second goal scored by Harry Kane-but was still not enough.
Perhaps fatigue was a cause because of his lack of games.
But you would still expect Rashford to remain in the team for the next two games of England in June – a world cup qualification in Andorra and a friendly with Senegal in the city area of Nottingham Forest.
If you are considering the rotten time, Rashford has passed a lot of it lately-he has been lucky to be back in the English team.
The jury is not forthcoming whether he can get the most out of that happiness.
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