‘We want to write our own history’
in the world means a lot, very nice to hear.”
While Southgate loves his composure with the ball at his feet, Maguire used what Jamie Vardy calls his ‘Slab Head’ to put England in front.
His physical strength and aerial power have been a key part in England’s success from set-plays in this tournament but, instead of causing havoc for others to profit from, it was his turn to grab the glory in the Samara Arena by taking it’s advantage of uncharacteristic poor Sweden marking to score with a thumping header from Ashley Young’s corner.
Modestly Maguire preferred to praise the pinpoint deliveries of wing-backs Young and Kieran Trippier.
“I don’t know who was supposed to be marking me but nobody picked me up and the delivery was good,” he said.
“The deliveries have been brilliant in this World Cup and we’ve managed to get our heads on the end of them. A high percentage of goals in knockout games come from set-plays and we have worked tirelessly on them.
“They have definitely been the best I’ve worked with. Trippier and Young always hit the point we’ve been working on, the target area as they call it. And we’ve executed one really well against Sweden.” So about his nickname. He said: “The ‘Slab Head’ thing? That’s usually from Vardy. But it’s about time I put it to use. It was my first international goal on the biggest stage of them all.
“Going into a World Cup semi-final, it doesn’t get much better. It’s a remarkable rise I’ve had in the last year. I’m in a bubble and maybe I’ll realise my achievement over time.”
Croatia be warned, the Sheffield ‘Slab Head’ is coming your way. in the modern era that would be even crazier, with social media and everything else, the global thing is so much bigger,” said Southgate.
“We’ve talked about the team which won. How they’re still held and revered.
“That was at the beginning of working together with the lads and trying to sell them the vision of what’s possible, what we’re looking to achieve.
“We also had events on when we’ve been in camp when some of those guys have been in, when the road was named at St George’s after Sir Alf.”
By contrast, the two semi-final defeats for England at Italia ’90 and Euro ’96 have hardly been mentioned.
Gary Lineker, part of that first tournament, allowed his emotions to spill over on TV following footage of an interview with the late Sir Bobby Robson about that semi-final failure.
England captain Harry Kane wants to channel that feeling among former players as the team look to write a happier ending.
ENGLAND V CROATIA HEAD TO HEAD
England 4 wins, Croatia 2 wins, 1 draw
Apr 24 1996: England 0 Croatia 0 (Friendly) Aug 20 2003: England 3 Croatia 1 (Friendly) June 21 2004: Croatia 2 England 4 (European Championship finals) Oct 11 2006: Croatia 2 England 0 (European
“I’m proud to make ex-players proud,” said Kane. “I’m sure it’s bringing back memories for them and for Gary. But we said we wanted to write our own history. Hopefully we can go one step further.”
But Henderson has given England an injury scare ahead of the semi-final.
The midfielder suffered a tight hamstring towards the end of the Sweden win.
“I was just a little bit tight beforehand,” he said. “And towards the last 20 minutes I over-stretched and I felt it a bit. But it doesn’t feel too bad so hopefully it’ll be fine.”
And Jamie Vardy allayed fears that a groin injury could rule him out, saying: “Everything is fine.”
Southgate said fatigue is the bigger concern. “You get an accumulation of fatigue through a tournament and that’s why we rested players against Belgium,” he said. “Hendo was another feeling tightness in his hamstring, which was why we [substituted him]. We’ll just have to assess the bodies.”
Championship qualifier) Nov 21 2007: England 2 Croatia 3 (European Championship qualifier) Sept 10 2008: Croatia 1 England 4 (World Cup qualifier) Sept 9 2009: England 5 Croatia 1 (World Cup qualifier)