London (Reuters)
England defender Harry Maguire said that not winning the European Football Championship next year would be a failure for the team, after shining in recent major tournaments.
Manchester United’s captain, with 54 caps, was a mainstay in England’s defense under manager Gareth Southgate and started every game at the World Cup in Qatar last year when the side were knocked out in the quarter-finals by France.
Maguire, who was also part of the Euro 2020 finalists and the 2018 World Cup semi-finalists, described winning the 2024 European Championships in Germany as the only measure of success.
“I think we have players who can win the title,” Maguire, 30, told British media. “I have the mentality, if we don’t win the championship, it’s a failure. I’ve been to three big tournaments now and I’m close to that.”
England started its 2024 European Championship qualifiers with a 2-1 victory over defending champions Italy last Thursday and will face Ukraine at Wembley Stadium tomorrow, Sunday.
Maguire added: “Obviously we have to go through first from a tough group, we came to Italy and we had an amazing result. We are in a good position.
“But these big tournaments are decided by small details. I think we played really well in the World Cup and in the end, we came out against a good French team.
“So it’s something we’re working on…we have a lot of talent and a lot of young players coming in.”
Maguire led only 11 matches in the English Premier League this season, after losing his place in United, with Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane preferred in the center of defense in coach Eric Ten Hag’s team, but he said he had nothing to prove.
Maguire said: “I want to play every game for my club and the national team. I feel I’m good enough to play at a high level and I’ve proven that over the last five or six years now.
“Last season was difficult but I proved myself to Gareth Southgate, I played more than 50 caps… I feel like I shouldn’t really need to prove myself at this level.”
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