Match Summary

England Team

Croatia Team

With England being thrown a great chance of qualification by Israel's surprise 2-1 win over Russia at the weekend, they took on Croatia at Wembley knowing they need only to draw to qualify.  But in a rollercoaster match England contrived to shoot themselves in the foot - Big Time!

Steve McLaren decided to pick the inexperienced Scott Carson in goal and after just eight minutes of the game the manager was regretting the selection.  Niko Kranjcar tried a speculative shot from distance and the ball bounced just in front of the goalkeeper.  Carson must have dealt with those sort of shots a thousand times before, but this time he allowed the greasy ball to glance off him and fly into the net.  Croatia could not believe their luck, and the England fans were stunned into silence.  Six minutes later the evening went from bad to worse.  Shaun Wright-Phillips wasted a fine chance of an instant equaliser when he blasted straight at goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa and almost immediately Croatia went two goals up. 

Eduardo Da Silva of Arsenal attacked the back-peddling England defence down the middle before releasing Ivića Olic.  Wright-Phillips in an unaccustomed right-back position tried to play offside but Wayne Bridge forgot to move and the Hamburg striker had an easy task to skip round Carson and score.

England were really up against it and as the half wore on there were no signs of an improvement.  Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard could find no joy in midfield, the defence looked vulnerable every time Croatia attacked and up front Peter Crouch had no support and no chance of scoring.  It was a nightmare for the fans watching and at half-time they inevitably booed their team from the field. 

McLaren at least realised that this desperate situation demanded a desperate remedy and at the restart he brought on David Beckham for Wright-Phillips and Jermaine Defoe for the ineffective Gareth Barry.  To be fair, Beckham's introduction did at least invigorate England and for the first time on the night Croatia looked a little rattled.  On 56 minutes the spell of pressure culminated in Josip Simunic tugging at Defoe's shirt in the penalty area.  The referee awarded England a penalty and although it looked a very soft decision, at this stage of the proceedings the home side were prepared to take anything they were given.  Lampard shouldered the responsibility and he made no mistake with the spot-kick.  Game on!

Suddenly the crowd were right behind their team and they were willing them to push forward.  Beckham was again at the heart of all the good things England mustered.  In the 65^th minute that wonderful right-foot produced a trademark cross straight to Crouch who chested the ball down and crashed home an equaliser, his 14^th goal for his country, and probably the most important.

So, with 25 minutes to go England were in a qualifying position, but hang on, there was still a sting in the tail to come.  Carson made a good save from Olic, Bridge, who had a very poor game, contrived to somehow hit his own crossbar with an attempted clearance, and then Croatia broke England hearts by scoring a third goal.  Substitute Mladen Petric took advantage of more England defensive failings by swinging his left boot from 20 yards to beat Carson all ends up. 

The utter disappointment at the end was stifling, but it has to be said that Croatia were far the better team and deserved their victory.  For England, the recriminations would start immediately.  Only Joe Cole, Crouch and Beckham can be satisfied with their contribution, whilst too many of their teammates had off days and should have a long hard look at themselves.  To be honest it was a day to forget, comparable to the Poland World Cup defeat of 1974.  Sir Alf Ramsey lost his job shortly after that game and a similar fate was to await Steve McLaren the day after the Croatia match.  The decision came as no real surprise, but who would be next to take up the England challenge remained to be seen?

Source Notes

BBC Sport
TheFA.com
SkySports.com/football
TheSun.co.uk
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor
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CG