Harry Maguire didn’t see the FaceTime coming. And when England manager Thomas Tuchel’s face appeared on his screen, the veteran defender knew instantly it wasn’t good news.
The 33-year-old Manchester United center-back, a staple at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, has opened up about the moment he learned he’d been cut from this summer’s 26-man squad for the tournament in North America. Speaking on Gary Lineker’s The Rest is Football World Cup podcast on Netflix, Maguire described the call as awkward, honest, and ultimately heartbreaking.
“He FaceTimes everyone,” Maguire said. “It’s quite an awkward call. I received a text around nine, ten in the morning saying can I speak to you today at 4pm. It is quite a unique way to do it. It makes it harder for him to see our reactions.”
Tuchel, according to Maguire, didn’t offer a detailed explanation. Instead, the manager pointed to the four defenders who carried England through autumn World Cup qualifying — implying loyalty to the group that got him there.
“He said he can’t really give me an excuse but he said he had gone with the four lads who got him through the qualifying in the autumn camps,” Maguire recalled.
For a player who featured in England’s March internationals and finished the Premier League season strong for United, the omission stung all the more. Maguire admitted he expected to make the cut after earning his first call-up under Tuchel earlier this year.
“I was shocked,” he said. “We had a few words. It was an honest conversation between us both.”
The defender, who has won 66 caps since his 2017 debut, acknowledged this might have been his final shot at a World Cup. At 33, the next edition in 2030 feels a long way off.
“I was really disappointed, I wanted to go to the World Cup and play,” Maguire said. “I’m 33 now and 37 at the next World Cup, it looks far away. I told the manager I wasn’t demanding to go and start the games, I’d have been happy to play one minute as long as I was there with the lads.”
Despite the setback, Maguire isn’t closing the door on his international career. He’s only played four times for England since the end of 2023, but he insists he still has something left to give.
“I don’t think I would retire from England,” he added. “I still feel I have something to offer. There will be a time and a place where I don’t deserve to get picked but I probably still wouldn’t come out and retire. If I got one more cap it would be worth it.”
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