Match Summary

Croatia Team

England Team

After all the build up to this crucial match, with much talk of revenge for the defeat by Croatia at Wembley almost a year ago, the match belonged to the Arsenal prodigy Theo Walcott.  This was the night when England fans saw exactly what prompts so many good judges in football to extol his virtues.  This was probably England's best performance since the 5-1 win in Germany in 2001, and they shattered Croatia's 35 game unbeaten run of home qualifiers.  The start of the game was fairly even and the Tottenham player Luka Modric looked in good form for the home side.  But Gareth Barry tracked him well and England gave as good as they got.  A couple of shaky moments from David James caused a flutter or two but England should have had a penalty on 20 minutes when Emile Heskey was clearly pulled over by Josép Simunic when moving in on a Walcott cross.  But that incident seemed to spur England on and within five minutes they deservedly took the lead.  Rio Ferdinand found Wayne Rooney who, in turn, tried to find Walcott.  A lucky rebound off a defender saw the ball eventually bounce kindly for the winger.  Walcott wasted no time and confidently drilled his shot across goal and into the far corner.  It was a great finish.  There were few scares for England before the break and by now they looked comfortable and composed in defence and midfield.

Their cause was then helped when Robert Kovac was sent off for leading with his elbow in a challenge with Joe Cole, with over 30 minutes still to go.

England took full advantage and just before the hour mark the visitors took a giant step towards victory.  A lovely move involving Rooney, Heskey and Frank Lampard ended with a pass to Walcott.  For the second time he wasted no time in firing a good shot into the far corner.  Four minutes later it was even better for England as Jermaine Jenas, on as a substitute for Joe Cole, worked some good space down the right, pulled the ball back for Rooney, and the Manchester United star stroked the ball into the net.

The home crowd was stunned, the away support was stunned (but deliriously happy) and the press pack could not believe what they were seeing.  England were in complete command of the game and playing superbly.  Croatia, meanwhile, were all over the place and their shape had long since been pulled apart.  It all made what happened next a little annoying as substitute Mario Mandzukic broke away to pull a goal back.  England complained that John Terry had been fouled but in all honesty it did not make too much difference to the outcome.  In fact, England, and Walcott, put the icing on the cake with yet another goal on 82 minutes.

A fine pass by Rooney sent Walcott through and the youngster completed his memorable hat-trick with another good finish.  It put the gloss on a great night for England and left Croatia stunned.

Source Notes

BBC Sport
TheFA.com
SkySports.com/football
UEFA.com
FIFA.com
Robert Owens, Scarborough, England
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor
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CG