England manager Gareth Southgate takes a lot of criticism and faces a lot of scrutiny. A lot of that is justified, but much of it is not. Southgate seems to love Harry Maguire as a player, and he often takes a lot of flak for favoring the Manchester United center back.
Maguire has been brutal at times, recently, for both club and country, but today was definitely not one of those times.
Harry Maguire by the way, comfortably England’s best player on the pitch. Won absolutely everything. pic.twitter.com/hAK18ZG1uL
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) November 25, 2022
You could say that he was the best player on the pitch for England today. NBC Sports, in their player ratings, gave him the second highest marks on Three Lions today.
His 7.5 was second only to his Manchester United teammate, Luke Shaw, who got a 7.8.
Maguire did everything that was asked of him today- he won clearances, accepted challenges, eliminated potential chances, and followed up on his strong game against Iran with an even better performance.
Maguire with Man Utd and Maguire with England pic.twitter.com/BuryMdqf7U
— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) November 25, 2022
So it certainly invites the question- why can’t he play like this when he’s with Manchester United? Maguire has been so out of form with United that the criticism he receives for his form is a story in itself.
Really, he is scrutinized so much so that the criticism takes on a life of its own.
Southgate described the Qatar World Cup as “the tournament of external noise,” and it’s easy to see why he would say that, given how under the microscope he is, at all times.
England is ranked 11 spots higher than the USA, according to FIFA, so they were expected to romp today.
Instead they kind of got dominated, but still escaped with a point because the USA can’t really finish.
We’ve been through tournaments before and I know as a player and a coach,” said Southgate, who knows the temperature on his seat is about to turn up higher.
“We had a unique thing in the last two of getting through in two games, partly because in the Euros three teams go through so that’s not really realistic anyway.
“Look, I’m sure there’ll be a lot of noise. This is the tournament of external noise. We’ve added another layer to that, I’m sure. But we’re on track, a bit to do, we can still win the group, that’s got to be our target.”
England are still comfortably top of group. As long as they avoid defeat by three goals or more against Wales on Tuesday night they are sure order to qualify for the knockout round. While the U.S. meanwhile face a win-or-go-home against Iran at the same time.
Paul M. Banks is the Owner/Manager of The Sports Bank and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly contributed to WGN News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.