Maguire 30, Dele 58 Flag-waving fan Maguire now the Lions’ flag bearer
He looked like a bloke who could have murdered a pint.
Just as he was doing a couple of years ago, among the punters he was now thanking with thunderous applause.
If anyone encapsulates the feel-good factor surrounding everything that is England football right now, it is Maguire.
A travelling flag-waver at Euro 2016, a semi-final flag bearer at World Cup 2018.
Living the dream of millions, an ordinary guy doing extraordinary things.
They say the intense support for this particular collection of England players has been fostered by their connection with the common people.
No story connects better than Maguire’s.
And, while there may have been more accomplished players here, no one’s contribution was more vital than Maguire’s.
In a lousy opening half-hour, England were laborious, lumpen and as wasteful with possession as they have been under Gareth Southgate. It was nostalgically, fantastically, bad. And then Ashley Young sent over the first corner of the match and the character bluntly nicknamed Slab Head broke the scoring ice.
Earlier in the tournament, Southgate wondrously noted how Maguire’s “noggin” gets on the end of everything.
Last week, Jamie Vardy sat in on a Maguire press conference and asked him how wide the diameter of his skull was.
Harry’s head has become a thing of wonder.
It’s how he uses it that is actually a thing of wonder. It is hard to recall an aerial duel lost.
The last guy as impressive in the air as Maguire around here was local hero Yuri Gagarin. It is an awesome weapon