Manchester United club captain Harry Maguire says he is proud to have proved himself again at the highest level in an England shirt ahead of his return to Carrington.
The centre-back was arguably his country’s best defender at the World Cup having played every game and kept three clean sheets in five outings. He starred in the goalless draw against the United States, making seven headed clearances throughout the match.
Maguire said he believed England could win the tournament and so it was “disappointing” to bow out 2-1 to France at the quarter-finals stage on Friday, the winning goal from Olivier Giroud cruelly glancing off the defender before finding the net.
READ MORE: Harry Maguire has given Erik ten Hag exactly what he wanted
Earlier in the game, he came mighty close to getting a goal himself, his second-half header shaving the outside of the post. This came after hitting the bar against Iran in the opening 6-2 win during a finals where he can feel unlucky not to have got on the scoresheet.
The 29-year-old has fallen out of favour at United under Erik ten Hag with Lisandro Martinez taking his starting XI spot. After a trying season last term, he has been left frustrated with limited game time and a knee injury so far this campaign.
The skipper has played just nine matches for the Reds, starting only five of them. Speaking after his country's World Cup exit, Maguire unpacked how devastated he was not to have gone further in Qatar but felt he had shown his qualities once again.
As per the Mirror, he said: “I’ve played every game and I’m proud of my mentality to prove to myself again - I don’t need to prove to others.
"But at the moment, I don’t look at myself, I look at the team and every time I put this shirt on, I want the team to do well. Listen, I'd have much preferred to have had a bad game against France and gone through.”
Touching on England ’s exit, he outlined: “We were the better team, we created the most chances, we had more pressure, we dominated the ball. But that’s football, especially tournament football. It’s about big moments at big times. We didn’t take ours, they took theirs.
“It is the first tournament I’ve come to where the group of players getting to a quarter-final, going through and losing in a semi-final or a final would not have felt good enough for us. It is disappointing and we are hurt.”
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