Match Report: England 2 Croatia 3 - Lions Whimper Out of Europe

Steve McClaren made the brave move of denying goalkeeper Paul Robinson even a place on the bench as he gave Scott Carson his second international cap. He also dropped David Beckham to a substitute as he named a five-man midfield, with Peter Crouch as a lone striker.

It was an attacking formation with Shaun Wright-Phillips, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard as an attacking midfield, with Gareth Barry in a holding role just behind them. But the team didn’t gel and the fightback was ultimately in vain as they weren’t good enough over the course of the qualifying campaign to reach next summer’s finals.

Croatia played with a more standard 4-4-2 formation, knowing that they’d already qualified but also promising not be content to go home with a draw. The new Wembley pitch is still suffering from problems with a waterlogged pitch which was criticised by Croatia coach Slaven Bilic and didn’t live up to the expected standard.

England started the game by pushing a long way up the pitch, with Crouch the obvious target as the Croats dropped off him in the early stages and the home crowd got behind the host nation.

A Joe Cole stooping header from a cross in the water on the right of the pitch was the first effort on goal and then Kovac kicked the ball off Lampard’s foot after Crouch’s nod down. But Croatia made a quick counter-attack to show how dangerous they can be.

Then out of nothing, Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar hit a speculative shot from distance which Carson misjudged in the England goal and it deflected off him and into the net for 1-0 to the visitors.

A wasted Gerrard free-kick was followed by Wright-Phillips’ shot which was too close to the keeper but well-saved anyway. As England began to dominate, the crowd started to get more vociferous. Crouch was the lone target but they just couldn’t find the way through.

Then suddenly, with still less than a quarter of an hour gone, Croatia made what was a rare attack and Eduardo beat a statuesque England defence who looked for an offside flag as he flicked a neat ball through to Olic. And the pacey striker easily rounded a stranded Scott Carson to put Croatia 2-0 ahead.

The England back line continued to look insecure with Eduardo and Olic continuing to find too much space going forward. As much as the hosts were trying to do up front, which was decreasingly effective as the half progressed, too much was being undone by their defence. As it was, they wasted corners and free-kicks as though they weren’t the team looking for the victory.

The pitch also deteriorated in quality as the rain fell. It was hard to believe that this was supposed to be a top-class pitch at a world-class stadium and it certainly didn’t help the cause of the home nation.

As England failed to find a breakthrough up front, Croatia continued to be patient and looked dangerous on the counter-attack. Carson made an unconvincing save shortly before the break as the Croatian fans drowned out the English, with their team looking fairly comfortably on top.

It was no surprise that the half ended with another poor delivery from a Gerrard free-kick and the home team deserved their booing off at the whistle. The lack of organisation and urgency in the team, particularly when they fell two goals behind, showed that recent criticism of the national side is perhaps deserved.

After taking a gamble in naming his side for the first-half, Steve McClaren needed to make major changes for the start of the second. Jermaine Defoe and David Beckham came on for Wright-Phillips and Gareth Barry in an attempt to find the spark to ignite the game.

The team made an encouraging start, just as they did at the beginning of the first 45 minutes and again managed to find some space. But Croatia stood firm and invited England to attack.

Robert Kovac pushed Crouch to concede a free-kick in a central position but Beckham’s free-kick flicked off a head in the defensive wall for a corner, as England struggled to find a breakthrough and Peter Crouch remained their main target going forward.

Carson saved well with his feet from Eduardo with Sol Campbell biting at his heels as Croatia continued to stretch England at the back.

Then out of nothing, a diagonal cross into the box looked comfortable enough for the keeper but Robert Kovac was rather harshly adjudged to have fouled Defoe and the referee awarded a penalty thanks to a hawk-eyed linesman. Frank Lampard stepped up to coolly score from the spot and drag an undeserving England back into the game just over 10 minutes into the second-half.

As the game came to life, Wayne Bridge managed to hold off Olic but only to toe-poke the ball past Scott Carson off the top of the bar and from the resulting corner, the goalkeeper made an outstanding reaction save to give England hope. Bridge was fortunate again minutes later when Olic beat him with a weak tackle and Carson got down to make another good save.

Both sides looked able to score but it was Croatia who seemed to stretch their opponents more, with Eduardo and Olic in particular continuing to look dangerous. But it was a different England side from the first-half, thanks mainly to the introduction of David Beckham.

Then almost out of nothing, England drew level. When it looked as though Defoe’s poor control had lost possession going forward in the Croatian half, Micah Richards played the ball out to Beckham on the right and he delivered an excellent cross into the centre where the unmarked Crouch was able to control it with his chest before scoring from close range.

Both sides still looked lively but with less than 15 minutes to go, substitute Petric showed why he’s so dangerous for Croatia when, again out of nothing, he hit a diagonal shot across Carson and into the far corner to give the visitors the lead. It was again some loose defending which gave the goal away but a fine shot to score with.

This subdued the England threat but they piled forward in the final 10 minutes as Croatia continued to pose a threat on the break. Substitute Darren Bent held off a defender and managed to dig out a left-footed shot but saw it clip the roof of the net as it went over just five minutes from time.

England’s Euro campaign didn’t fail because of this disappointing defeat at Wembley because it was a range of results during the course of qualifying which saw them slip up. On the night they worked hard but didn’t seem to make enough in return and Croatia probably deserved their victory, if not for being the better side then for their sheer organization and resilience against a poor home nation.

Croatia should do well in next summer’s finals. But it will be scant consolation for England missing out.

England: Carson, Richards, Campbell, Lescott, Bridge, Wright-Phillips (Beckham 46), Gerrard, Barry (Defoe 46), Lampard, Joe Cole (Bent 80), Crouch.
Subs Not Used: James, Ashley Cole, Brown, Hargreaves.

Goals: Lampard 56 pen, Crouch 65.

Croatia: Pletikosa, Corluka, Simic, Robert Kovac, Simunic, Srna, Modric, Nico Kovac, Kranjcar (Pranjic 75), Olic (Rakitic 84), Eduardo (Petric 69).
Subs Not Used: Runje, Babic, Knezevic, Leko.

Booked: Robert Kovac, Eduardo.

Goals: Kranjcar 8, Olic 14, Petric 77.

Att: 88,091.

Ref: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden).

By Ben Hughes