Harry Maguire says he is in disbelief about “how bad” the referee performed in England’s World Cup loss to France. The Three Lions bowed with a 2-1 loss in the quarter-finals, Harry Kane firing over a late penalty after converting a spot-kick earlier in the match.
United skipper Maguire went close himself in the second half, his header glazing the upright with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris sprawling. He felt aggrieved that France’s first goal had not been ruled out by referee Wilton Sampaio after Bukayo Saka’s claim for a foul in the build-up to Aurelien Tchouameni’s opener went unanswered.
Not long after, Kane was brought down by Dayot Upamecano on the edge of the area with protests being waved away by officials before a VAR check agreed with their decision.
READ MORE: England vs France player ratings: Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka good
Speaking after the game, Maguire described how he felt Brazilian Sampaio’s performance was “very poor” and suggested he had failed to give England “anything” throughout the tie. Speaking to ITV, he said: “I can’t really explain his performance. The amount of decisions they got wrong was actually incredible. Really poor.”
And when asked again about his thoughts on the referee’s display by the BBC, he responded: “Very poor. From minute one, five, six fouls in the first 15 minutes - not one yellow card.
“For me it’s a foul for the first goal leading up to Bukayo. I can’t really go into explaining how bad his performance really was. I don’t want to get into it too much as I’ll end up getting fined but it was really, really poor.
“His decisions throughout the game, not just the big decisions but even though the big decisions were wrong, he never give us anything. He was really poor.”
Jude Bellingham also described the official’s performance as “not great” but added: “There’s more factors as to why we lost, this is definitely not me putting it all on him.”
Meanwhile, Maguire said England “dominated the game” and stated: “We know we’ve played well tonight but ultimately not well enough.”
He vowed to rally round Kane after his devastating penalty miss and explained: “He’s been magnificent ever since I stepped in to make my debut for my country. He’s been the leader and welcomed me.
“He’s a world-class striker and when you take as many penalties as he does throughout a season, he’s going to miss some. He’s going to be hurt and disappointed as are all of us - of course we’re not blaming H at all.
“He’s our talisman and got us out of so much trouble in the past. Ultimately we weren't clinical throughout the game, not just H with his penalties.”
READ NEXT:
