English football has a desperate knack of over-exciting itself every time a young talent produces a promising display in a Three Lions jersey against an unexceptional opponent.

So the worst thing I could do - following a performance in which a naïve mistake lead to Slovakia’s opening goal after just three minutes, an under-hit corner inadvertently turned into a shrewd assist and a scuffed, speculative shot ballooned its way into the bottom corner - is declare over several hundred words that Marcus Rashford is a world-beater in the making, destined to awake England from a trophy-less malaise that has spanned over half a century. Last night could have panned out very differently for Manchester United’s prodigious forward; he could have easily ended up the villain of a shock Three Lions defeat.

And yet, there is something different about Rashford compared to England’s endless cohort of failed youngsters, something seemingly fateful but in fact explicable, that makes him such a unique, powerful and potentially potent asset for Gareth Southgate ahead of the World Cup in Russia next summer. In the post-match analysis, Ryan Giggs described it as mental strength, but the true extremities of what Rashford’s psyche offers stem deeper than mere resilience.

At this point in time, Rashford is a fine athlete and an unexceptional technician, at least compared to the current standard of forward players at the Premier League’s top six clubs. That’s not to suggest there’s anything wrong with the 19-year-old’s ability on the ball; he’s already shown clinical finishes, flashes of flair and an ingenious first touch throughout his short Premier League career and has over a decade ahead of him to continue improving that side of his game. Compared to someone like Gabriel Jesus on the other side of Manchester, however, it is quite simply and frankly unexceptional; inconsistent, unspectacular, undefining.

But Rashford’s greatest quality lies in how he uses that unexceptional technical ability; regardless of his own form or quality of the opposition, Rashford’s every act exudes positivity. He dares to take on defenders with the ball, he ambitiously shoots to test the goalkeeper and he gambles in the final third by making risky runs into dangerous areas. It’s that positive approach which makes the teenager stand out, not only against the backdrop of the other promising prospects in the Premier League but also an England team often paralysed by its own underwhelming, shock-defeat-laden history.

Ask any businessman or psychiatrist - when you think positively, life tends to go your way. That’s perhaps why a loose corner ended up being drilled into the roof of the net so emphatically by Eric Dier for England’s equaliser, and why a scuffed finish dipped at the most awkward of angles, skimming past Martin Dubravka, for what proved to be the Three Lions’ winner. Technically, Rashford was no more capable than Harry Kane, Dele Alli or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to pull off those two telling moments in England’s comeback. He simply maintained the belief that fortune would favour the bravery he’d shown on the ball and eventually reaped the rewards.

Of course, it would be wrong to paint Rashford as a happy-go-lucky, wishful-thinking character of the Forrest Gump description, riding on the coattails of history in blissful ignorance as luck continuously conspires his way. As Giggs declared after the full-time whistle, the Manchester United attacker is without a doubt mentally tough.

The fact he has so wilfully adapted to the left-wing role at club level and already scored so many crucial goals for United, namely nine game-winning goals and three strikes against three of the big six, is evidence enough, not to mention the vast turnaround of performance yesterday evening - beginning with the most costly of individual errors and ending with the vital winner.

Once again, however, Rashford’s positivity amid an era in which apathy towards the national team only continues to grow and the majority of England’s players fall into the category of workaday is what makes him such an integral component of Southgate’s squad going forward. This England team is young but already scarred by the nightmare exit from Euro 2016 last year; Rashford, although involved, appears unscathed. While team-mates often appear only a few early errors away from reliving that horrifying elimination at the hands of Iceland, Rashford remains fearless - even when his mistake could be the catalyst for another humbling defeat.

How long Rashford continues in this mindset remains to be seen; whether it’s his defining feature as a footballer or simply the naïve bravery of youth. Logic suggests a few more years of involvement in England will eventually reduce him to the nervous cautiousness of many of his team-mates. But in Russia next summer, when England will once again inevitably struggle with the weight of expectation, Rashford’s positivity, fearlessness and willingness in possession might just give the Three Lions a glimmer of hope. In any case, it’s the best Southgate’s got to work with right now.

https://video.footballfancast.com/video-2015/PL25(09-10).mp4