Harry Maguire Reveals Awkward FaceTime Call That Sealed His World Cup Fate

Harry Maguire was bracing for a routine conversation. Instead, he got a FaceTime from Thomas Tuchel that left him stunned — and ultimately on the outside of England’s World Cup squad.

The 33-year-old Manchester United defender opened up this week on The Rest Is Football podcast, telling Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Joe Cole exactly how Tuchel delivered the news that he wouldn’t be making the trip to the tournament.

According to Maguire, Tuchel personally called every player who was left off the 26-man roster. But doing it over video chat added a layer of awkwardness the veteran center-back didn’t expect.

“He FaceTimes everyone,” Maguire said. “It’s quite a unique way to do it. It makes it harder probably for himself to see our reactions and things like that.”

The call itself was brief. Tuchel acknowledged Maguire’s strong finish to the 2025/26 season — one where he reestablished himself as a reliable Premier League starter — but stuck with the defenders who got England through qualifying last autumn.

“He really said that he can’t really give me an excuse,” Maguire recalled. “But he did say that he can’t really give me an excuse. Listen, that’s football. It was tough to take.”

Tuchel ultimately chose Dan Burn, Jarell Quansah, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi, and John Stones over Maguire — a decision that raised eyebrows given the Manchester United man’s form down the stretch.

Maguire admitted he believed he had done enough to earn a spot. He wasn’t asking to start. He just wanted to be part of the group.

“I told the manager, I wasn’t demanding to go and start the games,” Maguire said. “I’d have been happy to play one minute as long as I was there with the lads.”

But the reality of his age hit hard. At 37 by the time the next World Cup rolls around, Maguire knows this might have been his last realistic shot at soccer’s biggest stage.

“I’m 33 now, so 37 at the next World Cup. It looks far away,” he admitted.

Maguire isn’t hanging up his England kit just yet — Tuchel hasn’t ruled out future call-ups — but the sting of this omission is clearly still fresh. For a player who started for England in major tournaments as recently as 2022, being left out entirely represents a significant shift in his international standing.

“I thought I could have helped the lads out there,” Maguire said. “On the pitch and off the pitch as well.”

For now, he’ll watch from home as a younger England defense tries to navigate a World Cup run without one of its most experienced leaders.