McClaren's call to fans

Steve McClaren named his 26-man squad on Friday for England’s two upcoming Group E Qualifiers, but also issued a call-up to another important part of the Three Lions’ team – the fans.

The England Head Coach is preparing for two tough matches next week, first against Israel on Saturday 8 September followed by Russia four days later. But with both games being at Wembley, McClaren believes the support of the nation will help England reach their Euro 2008 goal.

England are in the fortunate position of having four of their last five games at home, where 90,000 fans can provide John Terry and Co. with their backing.

McClaren believes that with this in mind, qualification is in their own hands.

“They are all big games, but they are exciting games,” said McClaren. “We’re just over halfway through the qualification group, we’ve got five games to go, four of them at home and we’re very positive that it’s in our hands.

“We’ve got to make it count. We know what we’ve got to do and we also know we’ve got to deliver. We need the country behind us and the fans behind us.

He added: “They are going to play an important part, especially in the next four games at home. We need them, we need them right behind the team.

"We all want one thing - qualification, and to make sure we are in that tournament next summer.

“We’ve got ourselves in a position, five games and we’ve got to deliver. They are used to that, they are used to it at club level and at international level. We have to do it again.”

Unfortunately tickets for the Israel game are sold out, however, a limited number of tickets are available for the Russia game and next month’s home game with Estonia. To order tickets for those matches at Wembley, click here.

To apply for tickets for England’s final Group E Qualifier against Croatia you must enter our ballot, which closes on 24 September. Click here to find out more.