STARS FIND THREE-DOM
Maguire, Kane and Sterling given a new lease of life with country retreat
NOT that long ago the prospect of joining up with England would fill some players with dread.
The greatest honour in the game felt like such a chore, some stars would find an excuse to pull out of squads.
Mysterious injuries became the norm – the stuff of fictional legend.
Even current boss Gareth Southgate admits that when he first took charge in 2016 he struggled to persuade some individuals to be part of the Three Lions ranks.
More fool them – because how times have changed.
Team England has gone from resembling a madhouse people wanted to avoid to a rehabilitation centre housing some of the most famous and expensive patients in the world.
Three names spring to mind when it comes to seeing them seek salvation with England.
Instead of running a mile, it’s safe to assume Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Harry Maguire would have walked over broken glass to be involved in this latest international camp.
Kane has performed like a drain for Tottenham this season and the same goes for Maguire at Manchester United.
As for Sterling, has hasn’t even been given a proper chance to emulate those two, having spent most of this campaign sitting on the sidelines.
The trio have been calamitous at club level, but stick them in an England shirt and all of them become lions again.
Sterling has started just six games for Pep Guardiola in all competitions but Gareth Southgate wouldn’t dream of ignoring someone who remains one of the first names on his teamsheet.
It took him just a matter of minutes to terrorise the Albanian defence with a blistering run. He was an absolute menace all night, while Kane’s first touch of the game was a sublime flick into the path of Jordan Henderson.
As for Maguire, he looked like an imposter in comparison to the one that’s been on show for United in recent weeks.
Maguire has been so bad for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side that some United supporters have called for him to be stripped of the captain’s armband. But last night Maguire was back to his commanding best. Rock solid and unflappable at the back while putting England ahead with a towering header.
Kane then joined in the fun with a hattrick, meaning he has now scored six times as many international goals this season (six) than he has Premier League ones. The ironic truth is that on current club form, all of them shouldn’t have even been starting against Albania.
But Southgate deserves huge credit for ignoring all the noise and seeing the bigger picture, by keeping faith with three players who rarely let their country down.
Southgate isn’t in the habit of helping out club managers because he has to be selfish, being in one of the biggest jobs of the lot.
But, who knows, his ability to provide an environment that acts like a sanctuary for the likes of Kane, Sterling and Maguire might just have done a huge favour to Antonio Conte, Guardiola and Solskjaer in the lon g run.