Maguire will now return to Manchester United and fight for his place back after losing his status as an automatic starter. Playing under Southgate in Qatar, returned to form in the second half of the season.
“I played every game and I’m proud of my mentality to prove myself again,” Maguire said. “I look at the team and every time I put this shirt on I want the team to do well. I’d rather have a bad game [against France] and passed through.
The United captain believes England have lost out to the future champions, backing France to retain their title.
“I feel they will continue to lift the cup. And to be completely honest, we were much better than them in many areas. But they are world champions for a reason. And the reason is that they are clinical, they are ruthless, they have experience,” he said.
“We belong on this scene now”
“But one thing I would say about this group of guys that was proven tonight is that we belong on that stage now. We belong to play these big games and play in these big tournament elimination games and we proved that tonight – even though we lost the game.”
Rice, meanwhile, says there is “negativity” around England that won’t be lifted until a major tournament is won. “I think sometimes the negativity around us will go away once we win something again,” he said. “There’s always going to be that kind of pressure on us, but I feel like it’s starting to swing that way that we’re getting back to a level where people believe in us and the country supports us.
“It wasn’t like that a few years ago, so we can be really proud of ourselves as a band. But we have to go again because at the end of the day international football is about what you win, we haven’t won for years so that’s what we want to try and do.”
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