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Harry Maguire outlines how England’s perspective has changed following the 2018 World Cup.
Harry Maguire revealed that England players believe they can win the World Cup this year, which is a belief they didn’t have last time in 2018 when they finished fourth.
Maguire and co. reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup in Russia, which was widely seen as a good tournament for Gareth Southgate’s team and a watershed moment on the international scene after years of underachievement in knockout games.
They followed that up by reaching the final of Euro 2020 last year, and they are now only one match away from reaching the last four of a major tournament for the third time in a row.
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Manchester United captain Maguire says the club is no longer satisfied with simply accomplishing what they did four years ago, adding that they now have more belief and ambition.
“I think that’s the one thing I’d say that’s a lot different from the 2018 squad to this squad – I think we really believe that it is possible,” the defender said.
“I played in 2018 and we got to the semi-final and I think a lot of the lads were happy. You were happy to be part of the semi-final. You know that whatever happened in that semi-final that you’d go home and be classed as a hero and everyone would be patting you on the back.
“I think now there’s a belief that we’ve got to win this tournament. It is a good change in the mentality.
“Of course, we know how tough it is going to be. I think there are probably five or six teams with the same belief, but in 2018, we probably weren’t one of those teams that had that belief. Now there’s five or six who have that belief and we’re one of them.”