World Cup 2018: Harry Maguire praises England’s coaching staff for extensive work on set pieces as Three Lions reach semi-finals
The defender got on the end of Ashley Young's corner to give England the lead in the 2-0 win
Harry Maguire praised the "remarkable" work on set pieces by the England coaching staff after the Three Lions advanced to the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in 28 years with a 2-0 victory over Sweden.
The defender opened the scoring with a powerful header from Ashley Young's corner on 30 minutes while Dele Alli nodded in England's second after the break.
Maguire's header was his side's tenth goal of these World Cup finals - eight of them coming from set pieces.
And the Leicester man, who earned huge praise from England fans on Twitter was quick to commend the coaching staff for their dedication towards making England a threat from the dead ball.
Speaking to talkSPORT's Nigel Adderley after the game, Maguire said:“The hard work that the staff have put in on the sets play has been remarkable and we’re really starting to see the rewards for them now. Credit should go to the staff and the players for executing the plans."
This was Maguire's first goal for England on his tenth international appearance and he was very happy to open his account on the biggest stage of them all.
Maguire added:“It’s unbelievable to score my first international goal on the biggest stage of them all to put us through to the semi-finals of the World Cup. It’s a remarkable and proud moment for myself.
“I’ve always felt like I’ve been really close [to scoring]. The deliveries we’ve had at this World Cup has been second to none."
Victory for England now means they are one game away from their first World Cup final since they won the tournament in 1966.
Very few would have expected Maguire and co. to make it this far but the defender insisted that the players always believed they could reach the latter stages of the World Cup.
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He said: “We believe we’ve got a lot of talent and we’ve got a lot of good players in the group. Some people might not have believed in us like we did.
“We’re in the semi-finals of a World Cup and we hope we’ll be celebrating again.”