footballnotsoccer
Paladin
Hardy
KC Hill
techman
Graham Fisher
Andrew Aigner-Muehler
LukeS
Craig HillEuro 2008: England down and out
November 22nd 2007 04:15
Results: Euro 2008 Championship Qualifiers (Nov 21st)
Group A:
Armenia 0 - 1 Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan 0 - 1 Belgium
Portugal 0 - 0 Finland
Serbia 2 - 2 Poland
Group B:
Georgia 0 - 2 Lithuania
Italy 3 - 1 Faroe Islands
Ukraine 2 - 2 France
Group C:
Malta 1 - 4 Norway
Turkey 1 - 0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Hungary 1 - 2 Greece
Group D:
Cyprus 0 - 2 Czech Republic
Germany 0 - 0 Wales
San Marino 0 - 5 Slovakia
Group E:
Israel 1 - 0 Macedonia
Andorra 0 - 1 Russia
England 2 - 3 Croatia
Group F:
Denmark 3 - 0 Iceland
Spain 1 - 0 Northern Ireland
Sweden 2 - 1 Latvia
Group G:
Romania 6 - 1 Albania
Belarus 2 - 1 Netherlands
Slovenia 0 - 2 Bulgaria
SUMMARY:
England's Premiership stars will be spending the next Northern Summer somewhere on a beach in the Maldives after failing to qualify for the Euro 2008 Championship finals this morning (AEST).
Needing only a draw to go through, an English 4-3-3 attacking side were 2-0 down against Croatia, a side that had already qualified, inside 14 minutes after goals from Niko Kranjcar and Ivica Olic.
Manager Steve McLaren paid a heavy price for dropping regular 1st choice goalkeeper Robinson and former captain David Beckham as it was the former's replacement that made a howler to set the visitors on course for victory.
After David Beckham was introduced for the second half, team spirit and morale seemed boosted which launched England into a comeback through a Frank Lampard penalty and a 65th minute strike by Peter Crouch following an exquisite Beckham cross.
Thereafter, England chose to sit back and protect the scoreline as a draw would have been sufficient. But alas, the Croatians had other ideas when Mladen Petric came off the bench to fire in a 77th minute winner to send England packing.
Consequently, Russia were the 16th and final team to reach Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria next June after Guus Hiddink's men leapfrogged England in Group E with a nervy 1-0 victory in Andorra.
Sweden, Turkey and Portugal all made it through to next year's final via the final round of qualifying with a win over Latvia in Stockholm, a 1-0 home over visitors Bosnia and a 0-0 draw against Finland respectively.
The 16 teams to make it through to the Euro 2008 Championship Finals are:
Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Italy, France, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal and Russia.
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Comment by Brad Waters
Punters Daily
And He's a Victorian!!! - Victoria's Sporting stars
McClaren completely butchered the whole plan - team selections & tactics (what was the go with only having one main forward?)
The English midfield lacked pace and imagination in setting up their attacking move, as they have for many years. This is the thing that has cost them on many occasions.
The only piece of class shown by England for the whole ninety minutes was the Beckham cross and the Crouch finish (pretty impressive for a guy his size), the penalty was a joke.
The English league clubs have caused the goalkeeping issues in English football, for many years England had a wealth of very good goalkeepers but the clubs seem to be heading to Scandinavia for second rate goalkeepers.
The problems will continue for many years.