Harry Maguire has backed England manager Gareth Southgate for having the courage to rotate his team against Belgium despite the possible backlash.
With a place in the World Cup’s last 16 already assured after wins over Tunisia and Panama, Southgate made eight changes for the Group G decider, with five-goal captain Harry Kane among those taken out of the starting line-up.
Those who sat out in Kaliningrad not only avoided injury and yellow cards, they also have a better chance of being in peak condition for the knockout stage. But Southgate’s team selection, and subsequent 1-0 defeat to similarly altered Belgium XI, has attracted critics including former skipper Alan Shearer.
After finishing second in the pool, England now face a Colombia side ranked 16th in the world by FIFA – as opposed to Belgium’s date with 61st-spotted Japan – and the buoyant feeling created by the record 6-1 rout of Panama has dissipated somewhat.
“He’s a brave manager and he makes big decisions in big times,” the Leicester defender said.
“You can say he is brave but so is (Belgium manager) Roberto Martinez: he also made a number of changes I think they were both probably looking at the bigger picture and know that the next game is the biggest one of them all.
“Gareth is a man of great knowledge. He fills you with confidence no matter what decision is made. We all trust him as a group and hopefully it’s the right decision in the long run. It’s only a good decision if we go and put in a performance in the next game and qualify for the quarter-finals.”
Stones indicated he was feeling fine as he left the stadium, giving reporters a ‘thumbs up’ when asked, and Maguire said he had always expected to share the workload.
“I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. I think it was planned that we would each play part of the game because we both played the full 90 minutes in the last two games.
“Gareth wanted to rotate and make sure everyone got the minutes they needed.”
One more would have ruled him out against Colombia and the Chelsea man admitted he was keen to stay out of trouble.
“I had that in my head so I didn’t make any rash challenges,” he said. “I didn’t want to not be available for the next game so I didn’t put anything rash in.
“It was a difficult game for us, our first real test, and we’ll take a lot away from it.”
“It was a slightly bizarre game. Obviously, they made loads of changes, we made loads of changes, but ultimately we both qualified,” he said.
“It was a strange game, no pressure. I don’t think we look too much into this game.”
