He might even, somehow, cop some stick for this performance because Harry Maguire always does.
The most famous forehead in football seems to be tattooed with a target, the Manchester United captain, the easiest coconut to shy at. Yet for much of this insipid England display, at least he was fired up, at least he looked ready to leave every last drop of effort out there, at least he got angry when things were going awry.
Faint praise? Maybe. But there were also times when Maguire showed why Gareth Southgate has such unstinting faith in him. He was selling dummies in the opposition penalty area, casually pulling off chest passes in the centre circle, flicking outside-of-the-boot passes across his own backline.
This was Harry Maguire, England-style. This was Harry Maguire, worthy of his 50 caps. This was Harry Maguire, a footballer who raises his game for his country like few others.
Sure, there was the odd rick, the odd shank into touch and probably too many sideways passes but there was also the 40-yard left-footed ping to the feet of his fellow Harry, the sprayed long-ranger to set Raheem Sterling free.
And there was plenty of trademark aerial dominance. This is why Southgate trusts him almost implicitly, this is why Southgate was sending him out in England colours for a 50th time.
Defensively, Maguire is fundamentally old-fashioned and obviously not blessed with the pace and litheness of many of the world’s top central defenders.
But, contrary to recent evidence at United, he can time an intervention. And, at times, he needed to, such was England’s shocking sluggishness for much of this game.
A potent threat to England had been complacency, the merit of their emphatic opening performance seemingly boosted by Iran’s cuffing of Wales.
Southgate had tried to keep a lid on confidence from the moment he met the media almost immediately after that rampage in the Khalifa Stadium, the mock grumpiness about the two goals conceded was a classic of its kind.
But in the following days at England’s base camp, it was impossible not to taste the self-assurance six goals had given to Southgate’s squad. It was as though those six pre-World Cup matches without one measly win had never happened.
Indeed, the only recent history that mattered to the players who were wheeled out for media duty was the one that features the spikes of a World Cup semi-final and a Euro final. These guys reckon they are tournament-savvy - after all, 20 of them were involved in that Euro campaign.
And they have developed such a good reputation that some pundits were even suggesting Gregg Berhalter might even rest one or two ahead of their final Group B date with Iran. It was an utterly laughable concept and confirmed as such in pretty quick time.
And while the Americans’ greater danger was down to the exciting talent of players such as Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, perhaps there was an element of complacency in the England ranks.
It certainly looked that way as Jude Belligham and Bukayo Saka - the diamonds in that display against Iran - sent passes astray and Mason Mount was barely able to put a foot right until he had a strike diverted by Matt Turner late in the first half.
But even after what was presumably a lengthy half-time reprimand from Southgate, things hardly improved immediately after the restart.
Some commentators were calling on Maguire to bring it out of defence more often. To be fair, he did try on a couple of occasions but the Americans - snappy and athletic - were, all night, very alert to that threat. And the general problem was Maguire was too busy clearing danger with the most famous forehead in football. And talking of heads, there were not many England players who could hold them particularly high after this game … but Maguire was one of them.
