World Cup 2018: England striker Marcus Rashford ruled OUT of training after picking up knee injury
Manchester United striker tweaking knee in an 11-v-11 training match at St George's Park over the weekend
MARCUS RASHFORD is out of England's first World Cup training session after picking up knee injury.
The Manchester United striker, 20, picked up the problem in an 11-v-11 training match at St George's Park over the weekend.
And he will not be among Southgate's players to train at Stadium Spartak Zelenogorsk, used for local tournaments but now home to pristine surfaces installed for England's arrival.
Rashford underlined his claims for a starting berth in the Three Lions' World Cup opener against Tunisia with a man-of-the-match display and stunning opener against Costa Rica last week.
Boss Southgate revealed upon landing in Russia on Tuesday that Rashford had sustained a "slight knock".
Southgate said: "Marcus took a slight knock, but nothing too serious.
"So we will have a look at that ahead of tomorrow's session which is open for everybody to see, but other than that, everybody came through fine.
"Across three weeks, we have been really pleased to get the 23 we picked through all of the sessions."
The England boss added he would "probably know" his starting XI for the Group G opener against Tunisia in Volgograd on June 18 "if it was tomorrow", but insisted there was still plenty of time for players to stake their claim.
Harry Kane will lead a youthful England squad into the World Cup as captain, and the Tottenham forward feels everyone is now ready to meet the challenges head on.
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He said: "The World Cup is the biggest tournament in football. This is what it is all about, is what you work hard for as a kid and spend all of those hours training.
"This is the stage you want to be on, the biggest stage in the world."
Southgate, though, has no intentions of letting anyone in and around the camp getting ahead of themselves.
The England boss said: "I think people can see there is a humility about the group, and there is absolutely no reason why they shouldn't be either by the way.
"That is important for us, important for the way we work. We have got to keep wanting to improve.
"We are representing our country in the greatest sporting tournament there is."
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