England manager loses his job as Croatia seal amazing Wembley win.
Next summer's European Championship Finals will take place without England who managed to throw away their chances of qualification with a dramatic 3-2 defeat at home to Croatia; a result which also caused Steve McClaren to lose his job.
Gambles and errors cost England dear
England went into their final Euro 2008 Qualifying Group E game against Croatia at Wembley knowing that a draw would be enough to see them progress to the main tournament next year.
With this possibly in mind, England boss Steve McClaren decided to make several controversial changes for the match. The first of these was to switch his side from its normal 4-4-2 formation to a 4-5-1, with loan target man Peter Crouch being supported from the wings by Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips and from central midfield by Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard and stand-in captain Steven Gerrard.
The second, and possibly more surprising change, was the replacement of Paul Robinson with Scott Carson. McClaren had stuck with Robinson as his first choice goalkeeper throughout the whole of his time in charge. This was despite the Tottenham goalie suffering some erratic form, which had lead to calls from some quarters for him to be replaced.
It may have been a combination of the crucial nature of the game and memories of Robinson's gaff in the away tie against Croatia that caused McClaren to decide to change horses for the final hurdle. Whatever the reason, the selection seriously backfired when, after only eight minutes, Carson allowed a speculative long range effort from Nico Kranjcar to squirm embarrassingly away from him and into the net.
Six minutes later and the distance between England and Euro 2008 seemed much greater than the 770 miles from London to Vienna. Defensive confusion left Olic clean through on Carson, who he rounded, to slot the ball home and double the visitors lead.
Second half comeback
Stunned by the position they found themselves in, England struggled to create chances from their revised formation and half time saw McClaren make two changes to revert back to a 4-4-2.
Only minutes into the second half, the home team were handed a lifeline when they were awarded a soft penalty for a tug on Jermain Defoe, who had come on to replace Shaun Wright-Phillips. Frank Lampard converted the spot kick and things got even better for England in the 65 minute when the other substitute, David Beckham, played a pin point cross to Peter Crouch, who volleyed home from close range to level the score.
With England now looking to have salvaged the result they needed, they started to withdraw into their own half and were punished for this change of thinking. Croatia, who had continued to look dangerous throughout the entire game, were allowed to construct a move that left Mladen Petric in far too much space twenty five yards out and he fired his shot past Carson to restore his side's lead.
Apart from a late half chance for final sub Darren Bent, England didn't come close to finding an equalizer and Russia's 1-0 win against Andorra meant that it was they and Croatia who were packing their bags for arrival at Euro 2008 and Steve McClaren who was packing his for a permanent departure.
