Harry Maguire and James Hill bid to upstage each other after contrasting England fortunes | OneFootball

After beating James Hill to an England place, Harry Maguire stole the spotlight again hours later…but for all the wrong reasons as Manchester United threw away victory on the south coast.

It was a day to forget for Hill. He followed up his England snub with an own goal against United, which looked set to hand the visitors victory at the Vitality.

Hill is one of the Premier League’s most in-form players and seemed destined for his first senior England call-up, having only played four times for the Under-20s and once for the Under-21s.

He was absolutely deserving of a place in Thomas Tuchel’s squad given his superb form for Bournemouth, but he missed out despite the England head coach selecting as many as 35 players.

Tuchel deemed seven central defenders more deserving, which doesn’t feel right. It’s harsh, but it’s hardly going to have people around the country up in arms. Even though he should be in the squad, it would take a lot more for Hill to be Marc Guehi’s partner at the World Cup.

That role looks most likely to go to Maguire, who was one of the seven centre-backs Tuchel did name in his squad for the friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.

Neither defender boosted their stock as both played a significant part in Bournemouth’s 2-2 Premier League draw with the Red Devils on Friday night.

Hill’s own goal in the 71st minute was very unlucky, but it was not the incident that defined the game. Instead, it was Maguire’s straight red card seven minutes later that resulted in a penalty for Andoni Iraola’s men.

Junior Kroupi converted with immense confidence and, with United a man down for the final 10 minutes plus injury time, you would have put your money on Bournemouth to grab the victory.

Alas, there was no winner and a 2-2 draw was probably a fair result.

There was a talking point for all four goals in a Premier League match that really sprang into life after Bruno Fernandes’ opener in the 61st minute.

Up to the hour mark, it really wasn’t all that entertaining. It needed a moment of class or a defensive brain fart to kick things into gear, and Alex Jimenez provided the latter with a stupid shirt pull on Matheus Cunha in the box.

Fernandes stepped up for what was, remarkably, his 48th penalty for United, converting for the 42nd time past Djordje Petrovic, who was having arguably his best game for Bournemouth until his right-back let him down massively.

Ryan Christie’s equaliser was a beautiful finish, but the visitors wanted a penalty moments earlier. It would have been soft, but United fans will wonder how Adrien Truffert’s push on Amad Diallo was not a penalty, while Maguire’s on Evanilson resulted in both a penalty and a red card.

Neither had any intention of playing the ball, but the position Evanilson found himself in made all the difference in Stuart Attwell’s eyes, along with the fact he sold it better.

United supporters will feel robbed, and those travelling back to Manchester will stew on that until they get to bed at 4am. Yuck.

It was always going to end in a draw, mind. Bournemouth now have 15 in this season’s Premier League, while United are on 10.

It could prove a crucial point for the latter in their quest for Champions League qualification, which they are firm favourites to achieve in the race among the pack outside the top two.

Michael Carrick’s side are four points above fourth-place Aston Villa with a significantly better goal difference. It’s two points dropped, but a decent draw on the road all the same.

Both teams will feel frustrated not to win and will sit on that during the international break. At least Maguire can go and enjoy that while Hill watches from his couch.

Yet, when domestic football returns, Hill will be allowed to play for his club. After a disappointing international snub and unfortunate own goal, he will take solace from Maguire stealing the spotlight in the end…again.