Gareth Southgate demanded his England players fire more shots on the Wales goal during his half-time team talk, according to match-winner Marcus Rashford.
The Three Lions were firmly in control but failed to find the back of the net during the first 45 minutes against the Dragons. However, they emerged from the interval like a side possessed and scored twice in two minutes through Rashford's free kick and Phil Foden's tap-in.
Rashford scored a brilliant solo goal to secure a 3-0 victory and send England through to the last 16 of the World Cup, where they will face Senegal, and eliminate Wales. The Manchester United forward insists Southgate was pleased with England's goalless first-half performance and simply asked his players to let fly more often.
"[At] half-time, the manager said we've played well but but we need more shots on goal - I think we only had two or three," Rashford told BBC Sport. "We wanted to work the 'keeper more and get into dangerous positions, which I thought we were doing in the first half, and in the second half we made them count.
On his superb free kick, the 25-year-old added: "I fancied [a free-kick] in the first half but it was a better position for the second. I just tried to be calm and execute what you've done in training."
Rashford also opened up on how last Friday's lacklustre goalless draw with United States helped motivate the England squad to put things right against Wales. "We were a little bit disappointed after the USA result," he said. "[I] Thought we could've played a lot better and it was important to have a good performance the next game.
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"We defended brilliantly in the first half and it was just about killing the game off early and taking the chances in the game." In a message which will come as music to England fans' ears, Rashford also declared that he has "massive ambitions" for how far the Three Lions - who reached the semi-finals in Russia in 2018 and the final of Euro 2020 - can go in Qatar.
"Moments like this, this is what I play football for," he said. "The biggest moments, the best moments. I'm happy we are going through to the next round of the tournament because I have massive ambitions for this team and I think we can play even better than we did today."
Up next for England are a Senegal side which won the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year, defeating Egypt on penalties and defeating the Pharaohs via a shootout for a second time to book their spot in the World Cup.
