Maguire’s return ends with familiar questions over form

Exit Harry Maguire, shaking his head disconsolately, a triumphant return to the global stage suddenly jeopardised.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Not so much by a reminder of his susceptibility on the turn and to the ball played in behind him, unwelcome as that was, but by the fragility of frame that used to get him through 60 games a season for club and country.

The look in his eyes may have told a tale: that he will not win his 50th cap against the United States, that his lack of first-team football for Manchester United came at a cost the first time he actually had to do any defending in Qatar. For an hour or so, it seemed the World Cup had redemptive powers for Maguire: it made him in 2018 and perhaps it would revive him four years later.

His was a performance with plenty for his admirers and Gareth Southgate feels chairman of his fan club to enjoy and a moment for his detractors to latch on to: as Ali Gholizadeh slid a pass in past him, the sharper Mehdi Taremi advanced into space to score.

Until then, Maguire had been the defender who had not been required to defend, courtesy of Iran’s self-defeating defensiveness. On a day when England scored six goals, he possessed a claim to be their most threatening attacker, certainly in the first half.