It’s hard to imagine a major international football competition without England but with the passage of time, it seems more and more likely that this otherwise almost inconceivable fantasy could just turn out to be true.
Five consecutive 3-0 victories for England had put them in a comfortable position in Group E of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. A win in Russia on Wednesday would have sent England through to the finals to be held in Austria and Switzerland but as ill-luck would have had it, England lost 2-1 in spite of taking the lead through an outrageous volley from Wayne Rooney in the 29th minute and playing better football than the hosts.
England coach Steve McClaren must have thanked his stars when his depleted side took the lead. Indeed his smile and applause from the dug out suggested that the former Middlesbrough manager, who has come for heavy criticism for England’s stumbling performance early on in the qualifiers, was in a mood to party. And England did party till the 69th minute when Spanish referee, Luis Medina Cantalejo, erroneously awarded Russia a penalty. Television footage clearly demonstrated that Rooney pulled down Konstantin Zyryanov just outside the England penalty area.
The four minutes of Russian retaliation blew away the England side and the nation’s hopes of securing a berth in the Euro 2008 finals. Substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko scored from the spot and then added the killed blow 4 minutes later to snatch England’s fate away from their hands.
Since their defeat to Croatia, England have progressively played better and more positive football, defeating Andorra away and Israel, Russia and Estonia at Wembley. But with the loss to Russia on the artificial pitch at the Luznikhi Stadium in Moscow on Wednesday, England now have to rely on other results to favour them.
Croatia remain top of Group E with 26 points from 10 matches and need just one more point from their last two games to secure qualification while Russia too would qualify should they beat both Israel and Andorra away from home. England need to beat Croatia at Wembley next month and pray that Russia slip up. England have 23 points from 11 matches while Russia have 21 from 10.
Image Source: BBC
Source: ESPN-Star Sports
