Lampard (pen) 56
Crouch 65
Croatia 3
Kranjcar 8
Olic 14
Petric 77
Venue: Wembley Stadium.
Attendance: 88,091.
Referee: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden).
England have failed to qualify for the 2008 Euro's after a dismal display at Wembley in front of nearly 90,000 fans.
I am still baffled how young goalkeeper Carson jumped ahead of David James in the pecking order. OK, Robinson has played badly enough lately to warrant being dropped. Why James, who has been on the bench, presumably therefore England's number 2, for every qualifier, was overlooked in preference for a rookie, is beyond me.
I am still confused also, as to why England lined up with a 451 formation. Owen got injured in a meaningless friendly away to Austria, and McClaren saw fit to change the whole set up, rather than just put in a replacement (defoe).
I refuse to berate the England players, who aside Crouch, Joe Cole and possibly David Beckham, floundered helplessly in the mud, on a Wembley pitch that had been trounced by the American football players that recently tore our hallowed turf to shreds.
The problem with the England side, for me, is the old boys brigade that run the FA. Non football people, making footballing decisions, strikes me as an oddity. Tomorrow these non footballing people will have an emergency board meeting, to decide on Steve McClaren's future tenure as the England manager.
The blind leading the blind springs to mind.
England 2 Croatia 3 Match Reports
♠ England Eliminated (the fa)
♠ England 2 Croatia 3 (bbc)
Posted at 12:05 AM, Thursday, November 22, 2007
3 Comments
Collar tightening - owotthehell, another choke job. Somebody at another blog asked the question if England has won anything since the invention of colour television. Sadly, no. Useless plonkers.
By 
, at 12:27 AM
This was the most painful England game I've watched for many a year. I cannot believe that we haven't made it to the finals.
What happened to Venables The Great? Just as I've always said, he got lucky in 1996, and he's been living off his semi-final success since.
Maclaren was never the right manager, I knew that from day one, so how come the FA didn't?
Brian Barwick ought to go as well as Maclaren.
Karen The Disgusted
By 
Karen Scott, at 12:47 AM
As a Croatian I must say that I was disappointed by England's performance. On the other hand, UK's media should have known better...we are already through to the finals...they should not have underestimate Croatia in media so much before the match, as they triggered the Croats to leave their hearts on that stadium, just out of spite (Balkan mentality). Better luck next time!
By , at 10:42 AM
♠ Austria 0 England 1 (friendly)
♠ Russia 2 England 1 (17 Oct 07)
♠ England 3 Estonia 0 (13 oct, 07)
♠ England Crush Russia 3-0
♠ England Crush Israel 3-0
♠ Friendly - England 1 Germany 2
♠ Estonia 0 England 3 (6 june 2007)
♠ Brazil Nick A Late Draw Against England
♠ Beckham Is Back
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