England v Macedonia
UEFA European Championship
Qualifying Group E
5pm, Sat 7 October 2006
Old Trafford, Manchester
Croatia v England
UEFA European Championship
Qualifying Group E
6pm (BST), Wed 11 October 2006
Maksimir, Zagreb
Steve McClaren's England Record -
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Steve McClaren is relishing the chance to see Peter Crouch and Wayne Rooney together on the training ground for England and has given a strong hint they could play together against Macedonia.
Crouch has been an inspiration for the Three Lions over the last year, scoring 11 goals in 14 games. And he has also hit five in McClaren’s three matches in charge so far, forming a lethal partnership with Jermain Defoe.
But the return of Rooney to the England squad gives McClaren a tough decision to make as he decides who to play up front against Macedonia next weekend.
Should he drop Crouch to partner Defoe and Rooney? Should he leave out Defoe? Play all three together? Or even stick with a winning formula of Crouch and Defoe - and put Rooney on the bench.
These are the decisions England head coaches are paid to make and McClaren begun the week by paying tribute to Crouch.
"His goalscoring record is unbelievable," he said. "You can't knock his record and, once again, he answered in the week when he scored for Liverpool in the Champions League.
"They're not just goals, they're terrific goals as well. And I've seen him do that in training too.
"He's not just 6ft 7ins standing there - he's got great touch, great feet, great awareness. He's improving all the time and he's scoring goals.
"I was delighted for him to score those goals in the week. And with his international record of 11 goals in 14 games, to drop him would be…"
At that point McClaren tailed off. But we all understood what he meant - after all Crouch is just about the most in-form striker on the planet right now.
It would be fascinating to see him partner Rooney and there is little doubt the Manchester United striker is a strong contender to face Macedonia even though he maybe hasn’t hit top form yet this season.
McClaren said: "I can't wait for him to join up and to work with him for 10 days. He will be an asset for us. He just needs games at the present moment - everybody can see that. But Wayne Rooney, believe me, will be in the team as long as he's fit.
"Players have to be playing well and have to be in form but Wayne Rooney is a world-class player and can make the difference at any given moment. He's in my team."
The challenge for McClaren is to get Rooney scoring goals again for England. Although he has made a huge contribution to the team over the last two years he hasn’t actually scored a competitive goal for his country since Euro 2004, and that’s a record that is certain to change very soon.
McClaren said: "We need to get Wayne Rooney into positions where he can score more goals and create more and get better service into the final third.
"You have to give him the freedom to go and play, to go and express himself. You do that with all the players within the structure of the team.
"I think he's most effective where he is at the moment, behind the striker, linking the play. Being effective in the final third is one of the important things and it's about how often we can get him into that final third, too."