Okay okay, the title of this post seems a little dramatic, but by the end of today England just may be eliminated from Euro 2008 in their finale qualifying match against Croatia at Wembley Stadium in London. The last time these two sides met was in October of 2006 which saw England lose to Croatia 2-0 in a qualifying match Zagreb. A result that devestated Coach McClaren and his players.
Croatia has already qualified and has the chance to secure their postition as group winner if they win this match.
This is arguably the most anticipated match in Euro 2008 qualifying ever since Croatia's shocking win over England last October that caused a dissapointed David Beckham to come out of international retirement anbd England to eventually fall out of the top ten of FIFA's World Rankings after several other dissapointing performances. Ever since that loss, England has never been the same and the team that has not missed a Euro Cup finals in over twenty years may just find themeselves watching it at home on TV. That's right, the all-mighty England now faces a new reality that they never thought existed, atleast not so soon. A 2-1 defeat at the hands of Russia last month further dampened their qualifying hopes until Israel revived England's chances with a 2-1 defeat of Russia last week putting Russia a few steps back and giving England just a little bit more room in the group standings to take the second and last qualifying spot under Croatia.
England can still move on with a tie as well even if Russia defeats Andorra. This is because a tie would cause England and Russia to tie for the last qualifying spot. England would win the tie breaker because of the 4-2 win England has on aggragate in their two matches against the Russians (2-1 Russia win, 3-0 England win). In order for the Russians to qualify, they must win against Andorra and then pray that Croatia takes all three points against England.
I really think Croatia can win this one sinply becaus they have their secret weapon-Eduardo da Silva-who currently plays for Arsenal of the English Premier League-and England has also lost many of its best players to injury leaving Beckham as the only one to fall back on, but seeing that Beckham was not able to help the Los Angeles Galaxy qualify for the 2007 MLS Cup finals, it doesn't look to good for England. However, Croatia just came out of a dissapointing qualifying 2-0 loss to Macedonia on Saturday ending a 16 game unbeaten streak. The last match Croatia lost before the streak was on June 13, 2006--their 2006 World Cup opener against Brazil which they dropped 1-0--thiss match, hwowever, could have easily been a tie, as Croatia had several chances in the match. After this match, they tied Japan (0-0) and Australia (2-2), two matches that saw them eliminated from the World Cup followed by a defeat of World Cup Champions Italy in August 2006 ina friendly. Every since then, Croatia only tied twice (two scorless draws against Russia in qualifying).
My prediction is a 2-1 Croatia win. England will defintely score goals, but due to their loss of key players, they will not be able to defeat the Croatians, but this should defintely promise to be an extrememly good match.
Kickoff is at 3 pm eastern time/9 pm central european time which is a little less than half an hour from now. The game will not be televized live in the states, but will be shown by Fox Soccer Channel this Saturday night at 8 pm.
Please vote in my poll if you have not already done so. I have never used this poll feature so I'm currently experimenting with it. (Sorry for the late post by the way).
GO CROATIA and RUSSIA!!!!!!
For standings, starting lineups, and other information for this and other remaining macteh in Euro 2008 qualifying, check out euro2008.com.
After all qualifying matche sare finished, I will create a follow up posts with all of the official Euro Cup qualifiers most likely on Saturday after the Kazakhstan-Serbia match but I will also make some comments tonight regarding today's matches.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!
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