England beaten by superb Croatia
McClaren's future as coach is in doubt following the result at Wembley
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Wednesday, 21, Nov 2007 10:58
England have failed to qualify for Euro 2008 after being beaten 3-2 by Croatia at Wembley much to the displeasure of an angry home crowd.
Mladen Petric got the vital goal in the 77th minute after Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch had equalised Nico Kranjcar and Ivica Olic's early strikes for the visitors.
Goalkeeper Scott Carson was at fault for Croatia's opener after just eight minutes when he failed to properly fend away Kranjcar's long-range effort and merely palmed it into the net.
England responded well to going behind and fired in some dangerous crosses but with only Crouch in attack there were not enough men in the box to capitalise.
They were left to rue those half-chances when Olic calmly rounded Carson to double the Croatian's lead.
The midfielder broke into the box and was played in by Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva while England's defence appealed in vain for an offside flag.
England could not get their game going in the first half, struggling with the change of formation and failing to give Crouch adequate support, and when the half-time whistle sounded it was accompanied with boos from the Wembley crowd.
Steve McClaren, conspicuous by his absence in the first half, chose to replace Shaun Wright Phillips with David Beckham and Gareth Barry with Jermain Defoe at the break.
The changes, and potential elimination, seemed to galvanise England and they were handed a lifeline ten minutes into the second half when Defoe was brought down by Josip Simunic. Lampard stepped up to the penalty spot and converted the opportunity.
But Croatia refused to give up and began exploiting holes in the home side's defence as England searched for an equaliser.
Wayne Bridge nearly gave Croatia a third when Olic's cross came off his heel and narrowly went over the crossbar. From the resulting corner Carson made up for his first half mistake making a sharp save.
Crouch then sent Wembley into raptures making it 2-2 with a superb finish from Beckham's cross. The Liverpool striker calmly chested the ball down and then slotted the ball into the far corner.
However England then sat back and their tempo dropped allowing Croatia to gain the ascendancy once more.
Substitute Petric then ended England's chances when he sent a superb 25-yard drive past Carson, who this time could do nothing to stop it.
In the closing stages McClaren's men offered little, substitute Darren Bent coming closest but his effort went over the bar.
Elsewhere in the group Russia beat Andorra 1-0 in what was a nervy display from Guus Hiddink's men.
Dmitri Sychev gave Russia the lead midway through the first half and despite missing a penalty they held on to take second place in the group, one point ahead of England.