David James
                                                   
 
  Gary Neville                         John Terry               Sol Campbell              Ashley Cole


  David Beckham (capt)           Steven Gerrard             Frank Lampard        Paul Scholes
                                                                                   (Phil Neville 84)       (Ledley King 70)

                                              Wayne Rooney                 Michael Owen
                                             (Darius Vassell 72)
 

The team from Croatia was Butina, Simic (Srna 67), Robert Kovac (Mornar 45), Simunic, Zivkovic, Rosso, Tudor, Niko Kovac, Rapaic (Olic 55), Prso, Sokoto


England qualified for the quarter finals in second place in Group B by defeating Croatia 4-2 with two more goals from 18 year old Wayne Rooney.

Croatia gave England a shock early on when they scored after six minutes. England failed to clear a dangerous Croatian free kick and David James was forced into making a save - but Niko Kovac beat John Terry to the rebound to give Croatia the lead.

Paul Scholes had a chance to equalise when put through by Wayne Rooney but his shot was saved by Butina. David Beckham then hit a free kick from a good position into the wall.

 

                                               
                                Paul Scholes (top of picture) heads the ball in: 1-0
 

Five minutes before half time England got a deserved equaliser when Paul Scholes scored his first goal for England in three years. Frank Lampard gave the ball to Michael Owen whose shot was blocked at close range by Butina - the ball came out to Rooney who headed the ball across goal to Scholes and he headed the ball home.

Right on half time Scholes played to ball to Rooney who blasted the ball home from 26 yards - Butina got his hand to the ball but it was not enough to stop the ball going into the net and giving England a half time lead.

In the second half Scholes and Owen had a chance to extend the lead before Rooney made it 3-1 after 68 minutes. Owen released Rooney with an excellent pass and Rooney scored with just the goalkeeper to beat from the edge of the penalty area.
 

                                        
                                           Frank Lampard got England's 4th goal

Croatia did not give up hope, however, and Tudor scored from another free kick to bring the score back to 3-2 after 74 minutes. But five minutes later Frank Lampard ensured England would be going to the Euro 2004 quarter finals when he went forward from midfield and shot past Butina to make the final score 4-2.

Who played well:  Wayne Rooney got two more goals for England and was described by the England manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, after the game as the best 18 year old he has seen in a major competition since Pele. Paul Scholes got a long deserved goal and looked more confident going forward and Sol Campbell had another great game in defence. Michael Owen did not score a goal but linked up well with Rooney and had a good game.

Who could have played better: England were at fault for not defending set pieces very well but they still scored four goals and outclassed Croatia.

England now play Portugal in the quarter final of Euro 2004. With 15 minutes remaining France were drawing 1-1 with Switzerland and it looked like England would finish top of Group B and play Greece in the quarter finals - but two late goals by Henry gave France the 3-1 victory and England finished second in Group B.