World Cup: England's Harry Maguire involved in funny moment vs Wales

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·29 November 2022

World Cup: England's Harry Maguire involved in funny moment vs Wales

Harry Maguire really is a different player when he dons an England shirt.

The centre-back has struggled immensely at Manchester United over the past 12 months or so, with criticism of him coming from virtually every angle.

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But on the international stage, Maguire is a bona fide superstar.

The former Leicester City defender was named in the Team of the Tournament at Euro 2020 and even scored an incredible penalty in the final shootout versus Italy.

And despite rarely featuring for United in 2022/23, Maguire has started England’s 2022 World Cup campaign in supreme form.

He was commanding in the 6-2 victory over Iran and was comfortably the Three Lions’ best player in the dull 0-0 draw with USA.

As such, Maguire was once again named in England’s starting XI for their crunch match against home nation rivals Wales on Tuesday evening.

Maguire certainly started the game well, although he did have a moment to forget in the first half of proceedings.

The England man went on one of his marauding runs from deep and initially, it was shades of prime Ronaldinho.

But when Maguire attempted to cross the ball to a teammate, things went from Ronaldinho to Sunday League in a flash…

As soon as he blasted the ball for a throw-in, Maguire must have known the moment would go viral on social media.

Sorry, Hazza, but we’ll at least give you an A* for effort.

What’s the difference between England Maguire and United Maguire?

Before England and Wales locked horns, United legend Rio Ferdinand discussed the difference between Maguire at international level compared with club level.

“He was (England’s best player vs USA),” Ferdinand said on BBC One. “He got his 50th cap in that game, and I think there’s been a lot of criticism levelled at him.

“Some justification in terms of a Man United shirt but for England he’s been supreme, in tournament football especially. At times it (criticism) is over the top but the difference (between Man United and England form) is here.

“Seven corners went into the box (vs USA), he headed out five. That shows you the dominance he has and one of the good big reasons he’s in this team.

“Not only that in terms of heading balls and clearing things, his distribution, taking the ball, very much a part of his game that comes out (with England) and you see the good side of him. He’s looked so comfortable and composed in an England shirt at this level so far that you hope that it continues.

“In a Man United team the centre-backs need to be 10 yards inside the opposition half which creates more space in between them and the goalkeeper to expose one of the weaknesses in his ability which is his pace. For England, he gets protected a little bit, you have to do that with certain players, but it helps him, and he definitely then flourishes.”