On This Day – 22nd November

Steve McClaren became known as the ‘Wally with the Brolly’ on this day in 2007 as his England side failed to qualify for Euro 2008.
England hosted Croatia at Wembley, knowing that avoiding defeat would take them to the Finals the following year.

Croatia had already qualified for the European Championships and both sides would qualify if England won. The team who finished top of the group would go into the draw for the Championship as a top seed.
Elsewhere, Russia were away to minnows Andorra, who had lost every one of their eleven qualifiers. The Russians would qualify at England’s expense if they won and England lost.

Heavy rain had come down over the course of the day leaving the Wembley pitch much boggier than normal. This weather would lead to the ‘Wally in the Brolly’ nickname for McClaren who stood on the touchline with an umbrella to cover him from the rain.

Liverpool’s Scott Carson was brought in to replace Paul Robinson, the usual England goalkeeper. This decision would have disastrous consequences.
David Beckham had also been dropped from the starting lineup, another puzzling decision that baffled pundits and fans alike.

After only 8 minutes, Croatia’s Nico Kranjcar hit a speculative effort from 30 yards out. It bounced right in front of Scott Carson, who let the ball slip off his body and high into the roof of the net.

Things went from bad to worse six minutes later when Ivica Olic doubled Croatia’s lead, taking the ball around Carson and putting the ball into an empty net.
Frank Lampard scored from the penalty spot after 56 minutes before Peter Crouch levelled the score with a well-taken goal from a David Beckham cross.

If the score had remained at 2-2, England would have qualified ahead of Russia because of a better goal difference. Sadly for them, Mladen Petric had other ideas and scored a winner on 77 minutes. England lost 3-2 and failed to qualify for their first tournament since the 1994 World Cup.

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Chris Amy

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