England 2 Croatia 3

They think it's all over, it is now . . .

Match 33/07/650 - Wednesday, 21st November 2007 - Euro Qualifying

England (0) 2 Lampard 56 (pen) Crouch 65
Croatia (2) 3 Kranjcar 8 Olic 14 Petric 77
Att. 88,091

Entrance: £45
Programme: £6
Mileage: 100/3,032

Match Report

Croatia rained on England’s parade at a sodden Wembley and a solitary Russian goal in Andorra was enough to end the hopes of a nation and the job of Steve McClaren.

The lifeline offered by Israel at the weekend had been grasped by an expectant Wembley crowd offering a genuine atmosphere for the first time augmented by the large and loud Croatian support. The scene was set for a memorable Wembley occasion, all recriminations against McClaren put to one side to cheer England home. Fourteen minutes later it was abuse that was raining down from the stands as the home side had capitulated to a 2-goal deficit following a goalkeeping howler from Scott Carson and a defensive nightmare leaving Olic to walk the ball into the net for the second.

By half-time, though England has spurned a couple of chances, the truth was that the Croatians should have been out of sight. Half time changes saw help for the isolated Crouch in the form of Defoe and a 99th cap for the Messiah, Beckham.

A tug on the shirt of Defoe gave Lampard the opportunity from the spot to halve the deficit and a pin point cross from Beckham to Crouch, who finished brilliantly to tie the game up and restore our place at Euro 2008.

But England’s ability on the night to self-destruct surfaced again 13 minutes from time when sub Petric was given time and space to beat Carson from all of 25 yards. Croatia saw out the game with just a minor scare when Bent shot over.

England could have no complaints at the result. It would not have been an unfair scoreline had the Croats won with five or six. The referee gave Crouch a fair ride, something he rarely gets from continental (or English for that matter) refs and it could almost be said that he leant slightly England’s way.

On the night England had far too many players who had really poor nights. If Steven Gerrard has ever played worse for England, then I missed it and Wayne Bridge would have looked out of place in a Sunday morning pub team. That is to single out just two, but with the exception of Crouch who worked tirelessly and Beckham who made a contribution when he came on, the rest cannot be excused for their 4/10 efforts.

The hostility at the final whistle could not have left the FA with too many choices when they assembled for an emergency board meeting on Thursday morning and at 10.30, Steve McClaren’s contract was formally terminated.

McClaren carries the can for a bunch of over-paid egos that have club interests far in advance of the national team. One of Five Live’s correspondents said that if any one of these players win a Champions League medal this season, the year will still be tarnished because of England’s exit from Euro 2008. Sorry, but I just do not believe this. While they are sunning themselves in Dubai or somewhere even more exotic, will they give a damn there is a tournament going on in Austria/Switzerland? I doubt that very much. Our golden generation was just Fools Gold, and a nation of football fans bought it completely. We won’t be so easily sold next time around and if there is any good to come out of this sorry mess then it is that expectations have to be lowered. We cannot continue to go into tournaments and qualifiers believing that we are England and they are just a lot of Johnny Foreigners who imported the game from us. We finished this group level with Israel, that is our status in the game.