England eliminated

England’s dream of reaching the European Championship was finally crushed on a dramatic night at Wembley Stadium.

Needing just a draw to secure a path to the Finals in Austria & Switzerland, England made a terrible start when they fell two behind after just 14 minutes.

But like a boxer climbing off the ropes, England mounted a spirited recovery in the second half and the route to next summer’s showpiece event suddenly became clearer.

First Frank Lampard belted home a penalty and then Peter Crouch volleyed in to send Wembley into raptures.

But there was a sting in the tale and unfortunately for England fans, it belonged to the left boot of Mladen Petric.

On a sopping wet night in North London, the heavy downpour before the game relented a little before the national anthems.

The vocal Croatian fans seemed intent on being heard once the whistle blew and the capacity crowd roared a number of crunching tackles during the early exchanges, the players often sliding yards before connecting with their targets, such was the drenched surface.

England started well with Shaun Wright-Phillips embarking on a jinking run on five minutes before Joe Cole tested Stipe Pletikosa a minute later with a glancing header from Steven Gerrard’s deep cross.

But it was Croatia who delivered a hammer blow in the eighth minute. Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar found an acre of space on the left before taking aim from 30 yards. The crowd held their breath as the ball arrowed towards Scott Carson and fell deathly silent when it squirmed through his hands and into the back of the net.

England responded by fashioning a glorious chance three minutes later when Crouch slipped the ball to Wright-Phillips who forced Pletikosa into an excellent save from close range.

The effervescent Wright-Phillips was involved moments later when, after collecting Steven Gerrard’s pass, he slipped the ball through to the galloping Micah Richards. The Manchester City defender whipped in a low cross but Crouch failed to divert the ball on target.

A further disaster awaited England on 14 minutes. Arsenal’s Eduardo dinked a through ball to Ivica Olic who, after being kept onside by Wayne Bridge, rounded the exposed Carson before rolling the ball into an empty net.

Shell-shocked and subdued, England sought a foothold in the game but the visitors proved rugged opposition.

Indeed, it was Croatia who looked like scoring again, Carson beating away another long-range shot which was too hot to hold.

England on the other hand seemed reluctant to test Pletikosa despite enjoying long periods of possession in the Croatia half.

Steve McClaren made two changes at half-time, bringing on David Beckham and Jermain Defoe for Gareth Barry and Wright-Phillips, and the introduction of the former England captain roused his team-mates and the home fans.

But Croatia seemed destined to spoil the party and when Eduardo escaped Sol Campbell’s clutches on 53 minutes, it looked even more bleak. The Portsmouth man had other ideas, charging back to pressurise the Arsenal striker which allowed Carson to make the save.

England were thrown a lifeline two minutes later when Josip Simunic was penalised for pulling Defoe’s shirt as he went in search of Cole’s cross.

Frank Lampard, who famously missed a penalty for England in the World Cup, showed immense character to plant home from 12 yards.

Croatia responded and were the width of the woodwork away from restoring their two-goal cushion when the retreating Bridge clipped the ball against his own crossbar with Carson beaten. From the corner, the England keeper atoned for his earlier blemish by making a crucial point-blank save from Olic.

Carson was again called into action on 62 minutes, diving low to his right after Darijo Srna played in Eduardo.

England clawed level within minutes. Defoe and Richards combined for the right-back to send the ball down the line to Beckham. With a cultured swing of his right boot, the LA Galaxy midfielder sent a wonderfully weighted first-time cross to Crouch who controlled the ball with his chest before lashing home.

The game took another twist on 77 minutes when substitute Petric cracked home an angled drive from 25 yards.

It was a stake through English hearts and one they would never recover from.
Teams:

England: 1 Scott Carson, 2 Micah Richards, 3 Wayne Bridge, 4 Steven Gerrard (c), 5 Joleon Lescott, 6 Sol Campbell, 7 Gareth Barry (17 David Beckham 46), 8 Frank Lampard, 9 Peter Crouch, 10 Shaun Wright-Phillips (16 Jermain Defoe 46), 11 Joe Cole (18 Darren Bent 80)
Substitutes: 12 Ashley Cole, 13 David James, 14 Wes Brown, 15 Owen Hargreaves

Goals: Lampard (pen) 56, Crouch 65

Croatia: 1 Stipe Pletikosa, 5 Vedran Corluka, 4 Robert Kovac, 2 Dario Simic, 3 Josip Simunic, 10 Niko Kovac (c), 19 Niko Kranjcar (24 Danijel Pranjic 75), 14 Luka Modric, 11 Darijo Srna, 18 Ivica Olic (7 Ivan Rakitic 84), 22 Eduardo Da Silva (21 Mladen Petric 69)
Substitutes: 23 Vedran Runje, 13 Dario Kenezevic, 8 Marko Babic, 16 Jerko Leko

Goals: Kranjcar 8, Olic 14, Petric 77

Kit colours:

England: White shirts, white shorts, white socks
Goalkeeper: Aubergine shirt, aubergine shorts, aubergine socks

Croatia: Blue shirts, blue shorts, blue socks
Goalkeeper: Yellow or green tbc

Match officials:

Referee: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden)

Referee's assistants: Stefan Wittberg (Sweden) & Kenneth Petersson (Sweden).

Fourth Official: Martin Ingvarsson (Sweden)