England defense boss Harry Maguire is perhaps England’s most ridiculed footballer. He’s been playing well at the World Cup so far – but in the quarter-finals on Saturday (December 10, 2022) against France, the toughest job imaginable awaits.
Maguire has to organize his defensive alliance against the leader and one of the runners-up on the current World Cup top scorer list: superstar Kylian Mbappé has scored five goals and two assists so far, and Olivier Giroud has already scored three times.
As in the previous four games in Qatar, Maguire will make his first statement with the national anthem: he sings it more proudly, resolutely and fervently than anyone else in his team.
The fact that Maguire has a rock-solid regular place with the “Three Lions” is a much-discussed and much more often-sneered topic in his home country. The 1.94 meter tall and 90 kilo heavy defender has too often made slapstick interludes that make him the favorite victim in social networks.
“Dolt” and “Clumsy”, oaf and clumsy, these are two of his most loyal companions, when once again blasphemed about the discrepancy between the 87 million euros that Manchster United cost his commitment from Leicester 2019 and his consideration on the pitch becomes.
Harsh words from van der Vaart
It is by no means just the many anonymous mockers on Twitter and Co. who slander Maguire. Long-time Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart, for example, said as a TV expert about the Sheffield colossus: “You can find players like Maguire at every amateur club in Holland. I think he goes home every day and tells his wife: ‘I’m so bad at football but I earn so much. They really think I’m good’. “
His club coach seems to have doubted that the 29-year-old is really good for a long time. Erik ten Hag apparently has nothing to do with Maguire and has consistently demoted the captain to a substitute. According to the British media, the Dutchman, who is a friend of the technically high-quality development game from the defense due to his origins, is even planning to sell Maguire early in the summer in order to promote a new start with a better footballer than him with the highest possible transfer fee.
A loyal coach and strong stats
England manager Gareth Southgate has a completely different approach. Against all odds at home, he declared Maguire indispensable ahead of this World Cup: “Harry has been a huge part of our two big tournament performances. We want him to do it a third time.”
Sticks faithfully to Harry Maguire: England coach Gareth Southgate
And Maguire thanks him with what he can: win duels, thunder high balls with his head out of the danger zone, go forward with offensive standards and cause unrest and otherwise leave the build-up to his teammates as much as possible.
The numbers also speak for him: he has won 70 percent of his 50 duels in four World Cup games. His pass rate in the 3-0 win over Sénégal in the round of 16 was a respectable 82 percent, before that in the 3-0 win against Wales it was even 90 percent.
His neighbor John Stones praises the interaction with Maguire: “We have this partnership like we’ve always had. Harry gave the best response on the pitch, you have to give him a lot of respect. He’s doing very well in this tournament.”
“Great belief in myself”
Maguire himself apparently has the ability to let the insults rebound relatively calmly. “I have a lot of faith in myself”said is: “Obviously nobody likes to be criticized. But I think that’s part of the game.”
It remains to be seen whether the critics will soften or even fall silent as Maguire passes Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappé, Antonie Griezmann and Ousmane Dembélé and leads England to the semi-finals on Saturday. He takes a good omen from the last two tournaments into the quarter-finals against the best storm in the world – in the round of eight he likes to score himself.
He scored against Sweden in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup and against Ukraine in the quarter-finals of the 2021 European Championship. So not only does Maguire have to watch out for the French, the French have to watch out for Maguire too.
