Harry Maguire was substituted during England’s 6-2 win over Iran on Monday because he had “blurred vision”, according to Gary Lineker.
Maguire started the Three Lions’ opening World Cup match in Qatar but was forced from the pitch in the 70th minute due to injury. The Manchester United defender appeared to be in some discomfort after Mehdi Taremi made it 4-1 with a thumping finish for Iran off the underside of the crossbar.
After being assessed by the England medical team, he was replaced by Eric Dier. Unlike Iran, who left goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand on the pitch following a heavy collision in the early stages, England acted swiftly to remove Maguire from harm's way.
“He just doesn’t look right, Harry Maguire,” former England international Jermaine Jenas said on co-commentary for the BBC. “You can just see it in them, see it in their eyes.” After the final whistle, BBC presenter Lineker added more information about Maguire’s state.
"Harry Maguire was struggling a little bit,” he said. “Apparently, he has blurred vision. Nothing too serious, he is OK, we are led to believe. That's the information coming out of the England dressing room."
Gareth Southgate later confirmed: "Maguire felt ill, [he] flagged it just before the [first Iran] goal and given the state of the game, we felt it was no point [in him] carrying on."
Maguire put in a solid performance before picking up what appeared to be a knock to the head. The under-fire United centre-back set up Bukayo Saka’s first goal with a downward header from a corner and was a constant threat from set pieces.
Former England and United defender Rio Ferdinand was impressed with Maguire’s performance alongside John Stones. “Harry justified being picked,” he said.
“There were question marks and maybe eyebrows raised when we saw the team but the decision the manager had was definitely justified. He played a part in the goal for Saka, the manager mentioned the control of the game, he was instrumental in that. Everything other than the goal he did perfectly, a commanding performance.”
It was an almost perfect opening game for England, who ran riot against Iran. Saka scored twice, while there were also goals for Jude Bellingham and Raheem Sterling and second-half substitutes Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish.
Taremi slotted in a late penalty after VAR deemed that Stones had committed a foul while defending a free-kick – and that call took the gloss off the result for Southgate. “I’m a bit fed up with the end of it really,” he told the BBC.
“To win by that margin and play as we did, we have to be happy. The players prepared, they looked ready, we felt we wanted to be that type of team, they dealt with the game well. It was a sticky first half, a lot of stoppages but we dealt with the threats, our passing, movement was very good.
“I’ve got to be happy but we shouldn’t be conceding two goals at that stage of the game and we’ll have to be right on our game against the States. It’s a great start but we’re going to have to be better.”
