England Close to Euro 2008 Spot
Group E Results go Steve McClaren’s Way as Team Face Croatia
England's qualification chances received a massive boost following the last round of group games featuring Israel and Croatia, despite the team not even kicking a ball.
Prior to Saturday’s Group E matches, England’s Euro 2008 hopes were hanging by a thread, with their fate out of their hands. Surprising losses for both Croatia and Russia, however,mean a win or a draw for Steve McClaren’s men against Croatia at Wembley this Wednesday evening will guarantee them a place at the finals and a good enough result could even win them the group.
Israel 2 v 1 Russia
Despite being unable to do anything for their own qualifying hopes, Israel’s defeat of Russia in the Ramat Gan Stadium, Tel Aviv gave England back their chance to claim a place at Euro 2008.
Israel began the match on the front foot with Russia looking extremely tentative and it took only ten minutes before uncertainty in the Russian defence allowed Barda enough space to beat goalkeeper Gabulov.
For the rest of the first half Russia continued to struggle to recapture the form which had taken them to the brink of qualification as they offered little as an attacking force. The interval, however, gave manager Gus Hiddink the opportunity to use his tactical brilliance to marshal his players and they began the second half as a different proposition altogether.
With Israel attempting to protect their advantage, Russian pressure began to grow and it took them less than twenty minutes to get the tie back on a level footing through Bilyaletdinov.
As the match entered its final stages Russia surged forward, missing numerous chances to grab the vital winning goal they needed and, as they committed more and more players to Israel’s half of the pitch, they were caught on the counter attack in the final minute by Golan.
Macedonia 2 v 0 Croatia
To round off Steve McClaren’s day of good news, Macedonia produced a surprise victory over group leaders Croatia in the Skopje City Stadium.
Russia’s earlier defeat meant that Croatia’s place at the finals next summer was guaranteed and it was possibly this fact that lead to a touch of complacency which saw them concede two goals in seven second half minutes.
Group E standings
The last group games take place on Wednesday night with England facing Croatia at Wembley and Russia away to Andorra.
If Croatia win or draw their match then they will top the table, however, if England win the game 2-0 then they will take the group as the scores from the matches the two sides played against each other will be level and England will have a better goal difference from all their other group games.
In a further twist, a Croatian goal against Steve McClaren’s men would mean that Croatia would have an away goal advantage in the head-to-head matches between the two teams and England would, therefore, need to win by at least a three goal margin to finish first.
If Russia had come away from their game against Israel with a draw then a victory against Andorra and a draw for England would have been enough to see them through. The late goal they conceded in Tel Aviv could be potentially devastating, however, as they now need to beat Andorra and hope that England lose to Croatia. An England draw and a Russia win will not be enough as the sides would then be level on points and England have the better goal difference from the matches between the two sides.
