England survive penalty scare after sloppy pass and clumsy challenge by Harry Maguire
Harry Maguire was fortunate not to give away a penalty after a nightmare moment which saw him bring down a North Macedonia player seconds after giving the ball away.
Starting in the heart of defence for England against North Macedonia on Monday night, Maguire had a difficult spell in the first-half.
After trying to play out from the back, his long pass was immediately intercepted and fed to Elif Elmas, who was through on goal.
As the Napoli star prepared to shoot, Maguire clumsily brought down the forward, making no contact with the ball.
However, the referee pointed for a goal kick as the Manchester United defender wagged his finger.
But speaking on talkSPORT, ex-Three Lions star Stuart Pearce insisted that the 30-year-old was lucky.
«I think we're fortunate to have got away with that one,» he said live on air.
And the former Manchester City boss was not alone with plenty of fans agreeing on social media.
One fan said: «Definitely a pen.»
Another wrote: «Definitely should have been a penalty.»
While a third put: «Penalty. Definitely won’t be winning any tournaments with Maguire at the back.»
North Macedonia did get their penalty in the end, though, again through controversial circumstances.
After Rico Lewis, on his England debut, caught Bojan Miovski with a flailing arm as he jumped for a header.
However, it was an extremely harsh decision, considering the youngster, a day shy of his 19th birthday, could not even see the Macedonian striker behind him.
Jordan Pickford saved the resulting penalty but the rebound fell kindly for Enis Bardhi, who smashed the ball in to give North Macedonia the lead.
In truth, England had not done enough to deserve to go ahead, though Declan Rice did strike the post earlier in the contest.
England have
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