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World Cup football 2006 home page
World
Cup football 2002 home page EURO 2008 ____________________________________________________________________________ England failed to qualify for Euro 2008 after losing away in Russia and losing to Croatia both home and away. The final group qualification table is shown near the bottom of this page. England had a different manager for EURO 2008 in Steve McLaren as Sven Goran Eriksson resigned after the World Cup 2006 (partially due to a set up by a British national newspaper to offer him a fictitious post at a Premiership club). For the EURO 2008 qualifying phase Group A had eight teams in it and the other six groups had seven teams in it. The top two teams of each group qualified for Euro 2008 along with the joint hosts, Austria and Switzerland. England were seeded for Euro 2008 and were in Group E.
England's results for the qualification phase were: 2 September 2006: England 5 Andorra
0
England's home games in 2006 were played at Old Trafford, Manchester. The first competitive England match to be held at the new Wembley stadium was a 3-0 win against Israel on 8 September 2007 (see match report below). John Terry scored the first England goal at the new Wembley stadium in a 1-1 draw against Brazil on 1 June 2007 (international friendly).
The new England manager, Steve McLaren dropped David Beckham from the squad and John Terry was the new captain ahead of Steven Gerrard. England were always going to beat minnows Andorra and put 5 goals past them with Peter Crouch scoring two (after 5 and 66 minutes) and Jermain Defoe also scoring 2 (after 38 and 47 minutes). Steven Gerrard also scored with a well finished goal (after 13 minutes). Owen Hargreaves twice hit the woodwork as England ended up comfortable winners. The England line up away to Macedonia was Robinson, P Neville, Terry (captain), Ferdinand, A Cole, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lampard (Carrick 84), Downing, Defoe (A Lennon 76), Crouch (A Johnson 87) England never dominated the game away in Skopje in Macedonia and were fortunate to come away with a 1-0 victory. In the 46th minute, Peter Crouch shot from a Frank Lampard cross and the ball went in off the crossbar and easily over the goal line. Macedonia were looking for an equaliser at the end of the match and Ashley Cole was needed to make a goal line clearance in the final minutes. The England line at home to Macedonia was Robinson, G Neville, Terry (captain), King, A Cole, Gerrard, Carrick, Lampard, Downing (Wright-Phillips 70), Rooney (Defoe 74), Crouch Owen Hargreaves was injured with a broken leg playing for Bayern Munich and so Michael Carrick came into central midfield. Ledley King also came into the team in central defence as a last minute replacement for the injured Rio Ferdinand (back strain). Wayne Rooney started up front after returning from suspension. Gary Neville and Steven Gerrard hit the woodwork and Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch forced good saves from goalkeeper Nikolovski. England attacked a lot but could not get a goal and Gerrard also picked up a yellow card and is therefore suspended for the next match. The England line at away in Zagreb, Croatia was Robinson, G Neville, Terry (captain), Ferdinand, Carragher (Wright Phillips 72), A Cole, Carrick, Lampard, Parker (Defoe 72), Rooney, Crouch (Richardson 72) The English press turned on Steve McLaren after this shocking 2-0 defeat away in Croatia. McLaren and assistant Terry Venables (ex England manager) went for a 3-5-2 formation with Gary Neville and Ashley Cole as wing backs. The England team were second best however and Paul Robinson needed to make several first half saves before Croatia scored with a header from Eduardo after 61 minutes. Croatia's second goal came after a back pass from Gary Neville bobbled up in front of Robinson as he was attempting to kick the ball away - Robinson missed the ball with his kick and the it went into his own net. England then drew 1-1 against Holland and lost 1-0 to Spain in friendly games. After England drew 0-0 in the next qualifying game away in Israel on 24 March 2007 Steve McLaren's team had not won in 5 games. The England line at away in Tel Aviv, Israel was Robinson, P Neville (Richards 72), Terry (captain), Ferdinand, Carragher, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lampard, Lennon (Downing 83), Rooney, Johnson (Defoe 80) In the 0-0 draw away in Israel Phil Neville replaced his injured brother Gary at right back, Jamie Carragher replaced the suspended Ashley Cole at left back and Andy Johnson came in for Peter Crouch (recovering from a broken nose). England were on top in this game with plenty of the ball but could not finish. A lot of players did not perform as they do in the Premiership and accusations of a lack of creativity and focus from the English players were made after the game. The away game against Andorra was played in Barcelona, Spain and the England line up was Robinson, Richards (Dyer 61), Terry (captain), Ferdinand, A Cole, Lennon, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Downing, Rooney (Defoe 61), Johnson (Nugent 79) England were 0-0 at half time against Andorra and went into the break to boos from the England supporters. In the second half Steven Gerrard scored twice and substitute David Nugent scored on his debut to give England 3 points. Gerrard replaced Frank Lampard (broke wrist in training) in the attacking midfield role and got his first goal eight minutes after half time with a volley from the edge of the penalty area. His second goal came after exchanging passes with Jermain Defoe after 75 minutes and then beating the goalkeeper Alvarez to his left. Defoe thought he had scored the third goal with a good shot but Nugent took the credit by making contact just before the ball crossed the goal line. Even after beating Andorra, the pressure is still on Steve McLaren's England team as England are only fourth in the table (with results against other teams on the same points taking priority over goal difference).
The away game against Estonia was played in Tallinn and the England line up was Robinson, Brown, Terry (captain), King, Bridge, Beckham (Dyer 68), Gerrard, Lampard, J Cole, Crouch, Owen (Jenas 87) A 3-0 victory away in Estonia kept England in with a chance of qualifying
for Euro 2004. Steve McLaren brought back experience in David Beckham, Joe Cole
and Michael Owen for this game for the first time since the World Cup. Beckham
got back into the team after playing well for Real Madrid and Joe Cole and Owen
had recently returned from long term injuries. After a quiet start, England
scored after 37 minutes when Joe Cole chested the ball down with his back to
goal, turned and shot past the Estonian goalkeeper, Mart Poom. Beckham set up
the second and third goals from crosses from the right side of the pitch -
Peter Crouch headed in the second goal after 55 minutes and Michael Owen tapped
in the third seven minutes later. The England line up at the new Wembley stadium against Israel was Robinson, Richards, Ferdinand, Terry (captain), A Cole, Wright-Phillips (Bentley 83), Gerrard (P Neville 71), Barry, J Cole, Heskey (Johnson 71), Owen With Peter Crouch suspended for this match and Wayne Rooney still injured, Steve McLaren brought back Emile Heskey to partner Michael Owen up front. David Beckham, Owen Hargreaves and Frank Lampard were also injured but they were not missed as England comfortably won the game 3-0. After 20 minutes, Shaun Wright-Phillips beat the offside trap and connected with a Joe Cole cross to give England the lead. England had more chances to score in the first half before Michael Owen got the second goal 5 minutes into the second half - he received the ball at the edge of the penalty area with his back to goal, spun and scored with a powerful shot. Right back Micah Richards headed in the third goal from a corner after 66 minutes. The England line up at Wembley against Russia was Robinson, Richards, Ferdinand, Terry (captain), A Cole, Wright-Phillips, Gerrard, Barry, J Cole (P Neville 88), Heskey (Crouch 80), Owen (Downing 90) England kept the same line up 4 days later for the match against Russia and got the same 3-0 result. Michael Owen got two goals to bring his total for England to 40 and closer to Bobby Charlton's record of 49 goals. With only 7 minutes gone Owen got his first goal after a cross from Gareth Barry on the right. He scored his second after 31 minutes after an accurate header into his path by Emile Heskey. In between the two goals Zyryanov thought he had equalised for Russia after 18 minutes but was unlucky for it to be ruled out for handball. Rio Ferdinand made it 3-0 to England 6 minutes from time after collecting a pass from Owen from inside the penalty area and scoring at the near post. After this game England were in second place in the group::
Remaining games:
With John Terry injured, Sol Campbell returned in central defence as England beat Estonia 3-0 at Wembley. Shaun Wright-Phillips scored the first goal after 11 minutes after running onto a good pass from Micah Richards and firing the ball through the goalkeepers legs. Wayne Rooney got his first England goal in three years after 32 minutes with a deflected shot and then Taavi Rahn headed in an own goal a minute later. The England line up away in Moscow, Russia was Robinson, Richards, Ferdinand, Campbell, Lescott (Downing 79), Wright-Phillips (Lampard 79), Gerrard, Barry, J Cole (Crouch 79), Rooney, Owen For the game on an artificial pitch away in Russia England were still without captain John Terry (knee injury) and Ashley Cole who was injured against Estonia four days earlier. England scored first after 29 minutes - Wayne Rooney chested down a flick on from Michael Owen and then volleyed the ball high into the net. However in the second half Rooney brought down Zyrianov to give away a penalty (although the foul looked outside the box) - substitute Pavlyuchenko converted the penalty after 69 minutes. Four minutes later Pavlyuchenko gave Russia the 2-1 lead after Paul Robinson's save rebounded into his path. Russia would have qualified at England's expense if they had beaten Israel and Andorra away in their last two games but they lost 2-1 to Israel on 17 November 2007. This result meant that Croatia had qualified for Euro 2008 and England only needed a draw from the game at home to Croatia on 21 November 2007. The England at home against Croatia was Carson, Richards, Campbell, Lescott, Bridge,Wright-Phillips (Beckham 46), Gerrard, Barry (Defoe 46), Lampard, J Cole (Bent 80), Crouch The England manager, Steve McLaren dropped goalkeeper Paul Robinson for poor recent form and gave 22 year old Scott Carson his first competitive start for England. For this match the team was missing the suspended Rio Ferdinand and John Terry, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen through injury. England had the worst possible start and were two goals down after 14 minutes - after 8 minutes Carson made a horrible error when he let a speculative long range shot from Kranjcar bounce over his hands and off his shoulder into the goal - then Olic broke the offside trap to round Carson and score Croatia's second goal. David Beckham and Jermain Defoe came on for the second half and England got a penalty after 56 minutes when Simunic held back Defoe in the area - Frank Lampard scored the penalty to give the home support some hope. Then after 65 minutes Peter Crouch chested down and volleyed in a Beckham cross to level the match at 2-2. A draw would have been enough to qualify for Euro 2008 but after 77 minutes substitute Petric scored for Croatia with a 25 yard shot that went into the corner of the net. The final group table (with the top 2 qualifying for Euro 2008) was:
McLaren was sacked as England manager the day after the 3-2 defeat to Croatia. Fabio Capello was named the new England manager for the World Cup 2010 campaign. The final tournament takes place between 7-29 June 2008 and Euro 2008 groups
are:
Click here for the World Cup 2010 qualification draw England were knocked out on penalties in the semi finals of the Under 21 European Championships 2007 |
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