Marcus Rashford came off the bench and took just thirteen minutes to make an impact against Croatia in Dallas. In the 85th minute, Bukayo Saka drove forward down the right, picked up a loose ball and found Rashford on the edge of the penalty area. Rashford took it with one touch on his right foot, used a second touch with his left to send the Croatia defender the wrong way, then opened his body and slotted the finish into the bottom corner with the inside of his right foot. It put England 4-2 up in a six-goal opener that set England on their way in Group L.

It capped a wild afternoon that included a retaken penalty, two Croatia equalisers, and a Bellingham strike to put England back in front before Rashford settled it. The kind of frantic match that made the deftness of those touches stand out even more.

It was a calmly taken goal in a frantic game of football that could be the tone setter for Thomas Tuchel’s side’s tournament. Here’s how to recreate it at home.

The Skill Move - Using Both Feet to Beat a Defender

What set Rashford up for such a calm finish was the touch that came before it. Rashford controlled with his right foot, then used a second touch with his left to shift the ball away from the defender and open up the angle to goal. That kind of close control under pressure - using both feet rather than just your favoured one - is a basic principle of ball mastery coaching, and one of the most useful habits a young player can build.

The drill: place two cones a yard apart to represent a defender's body. Receive a pass with your strong foot, then use your weaker foot to touch the ball through the gap between the cones, shifting your body angle as you go. A QUICKPLAY rebounder is useful here - play a firm pass into it, control the return with one foot, and shift it past the cones with the other before driving on.

For younger players: slow the whole sequence down and focus on simply using the weaker foot at all. It will feel clumsy at first - that is normal, and it is exactly what the practice is for.

The Finish - Across the Body, Into the Far Corner

Rashford did not blast the finish. He opened his hips toward the corner before he even struck the ball, which is a deliberate technique rather than an accident of the moment. Opening the body early lets you place the ball with the inside of the foot rather than relying on power, and it disguises which corner you are going for until the last possible moment.

Set up your KICKSTER or Q-FOLD goal and mark a shooting spot just inside the box. The drill: receive the ball across your body, open your hips toward the target as it arrives, and roll the finish low into the corner with the inside of the foot. Practice from both sides of the box so neither foot becomes the obvious one to defend against.

Put It Together - Receive, Beat the Defender, Finish

On their own, the two drills above are useful. Combined, they are closer to what actually happened - a touch to control, a touch to create the angle, then a finish, all inside two or three seconds.

Set the rebounder and the goal up so one flows into the other. Take the pass, shift it past the cones with your weaker foot, open your body, and finish into the corner - all in one continuous sequence rather than three separate actions. The order of the actions and the speed between them matter more here than power ever will.

Keep the Momentum Going

After a 4-2 opener like that - six goals, a retaken penalty, and a World Cup debutant-heavy squad finding their feet under the lights - there is no shortage of moments worth bringing into the garden before then.

QUICKPLAY KICKSTER goals pop up in seconds, and a Q-FOLD goal folds flat in one move when you need the garden back. Browse the QUICKPLAY goals collection and get set up before the next one.