Harry Maguire silences critics as he again shines for England
Gareth Southgate's England squad was always going to draw groans of discontent. There were maybe one or two issues with his selection for Qatar 2022, but on the whole; the squad was fine. There is ample experience and plenty of exciting youngsters to select from, though based on form, the centre-back picks were perhaps a concern.
As he did at Euro 2020, Southgate has used a four-man backline in the group stages so far, with Harry Maguire featuring longside John Stones at the heart of the defence. Maguire has been sub-par for Manchester United this season, and, prior to the World Cup, had started just three league games for Erik Ten Hag's side. Two of those were defeats as United lost to Brighton and Brentford in their first two games of the campaign. Hardly the ideal start to the Ten Hag revolution.
A hamstring injury sustained in September limited his chances of wrestling his spot in the XI back after he was dropped with Ten Hag electing for a partnership of Raphael Varane and summer recruit Lisandro Martinez, and yet Southgate has kept his faith in Maguire, even with the centre-back out of form and a lack of regular minutes for United. Poor showings for England in the UEFA Nations League in September in meetings with Italy and Germany suggested that Southgate's faith was misplaced.
Yet if there is one constant for Maguire, it's his form for England in international tournaments. At Euro 2020, the 29-year-old was a key man in their progression to the final, earning a WhoScored rating of 7.52 in the process. It's been a similar story for the Three Lions at the World Cup. England followed up their 6-2 win over Iran with a 0-0 draw with USA on Friday night, the latter performance reminiscent of their stalemate with Scotland at Wembley last summer.
In Friday's 0-0 draw, Maguire was named the WhoScored man of the match with a rating of 7.57. Despite USA being arguably the better of the two sides at the Al Bayt Stadium, Maguire and the England defence held firm to ensure a clean sheet. Indeed, the United defender made eight clearances, that the fifth best return in a World Cup match this year, as he was so often in the right place at the right time to alleviate the pressure on the England goal.
Of course, he hasn't enjoyed a perfect World Cup to date. Maguire was caught ball watching for Mehdi Taremi's first in England's 6-2 win over Team Melli last week, though he did come off shortly after that goal due to illness, so that may have resulted in a lapse of concentration from the defender, but during his time on the pitch; the England star won all four aerial duels contested, and chipped in with one tackle and one clearance.
What's been evident, though, is that Southgate has been justified by his decision to not only select Maguire for the World Cup, but have him feature from the outset. Had the England boss left Maguire at home, then it would have been a further dent to the player's confidence, one that he may not have been able to recover from.
In Qatar, though, Maguire is looking back to his best, which was also the case at Euro 2020. Against Iran, who they dominated, and the USA, who were a far more testing proposition for the Three Lions, Maguire adopted his game accordingly to set England on the front foot, or to ensure Jordan Pickford was rarely tested. It's time, then, for the debate over whether he should feature for England or not to end.
Maguire has established himself as one of the most reliable players for Southgate's side and while his Nations League performances left little to the imagination, no England player covered themselves in glory as England were relegated to League B. And yet with Maguire at the heart of the defence, there is a shot at silverware. He is such a Jekyll and Hyde centre-back for United and England, and it may be that the slowness of international football by comparison to club football means that mistakes that would be on show when he plays for United simply do not come to pass on the international stage.
As Southgate named an unchanged XI for the meeting with the USA, there were a number of stagnant displays from those who shone against Iran, yet faltered in Friday's sleep inducing stalemate. There are calls for the likes of Mason Mount and Raheem Sterling to be dropped, two players who did struggle in the Group B draw. However, there is no such noise being made about Maguire, who is once again proving why he is one of the first names of Southgate's team sheet. Who'd have thought that in the wake of United's back-to-back defeats to kick off the Premier League season?
