England lose to Croatia

[DmanDmythDledge]

Sol turned his body away from the last shot on goal, insead of throwing himself at it. Dont know what this has to do with our manager search either

Because a more attractive international job will more than likely be available.

[Giuly]

Enjoyed that

[Red&White Rover]

Thank Christ, none of this "we just have to show up to win" boll*cks, from the English media and fans this summer!


Halleluiah!

[shakermaker1982]

There is a God after all.

Croatia were brilliant on the counter tonight, Modric looked a million dollars. Not even an England player diving again can get them the result they need. I have to admit I felt a tad sorry for Carson but when your thrown in at the deep end what do you expect?

[keenanboy]

I think we're all a bit guilty of Schadenfreude here, pleasure in the misery of others. Much as it kills me to say this but I'll miss England not being in the finals next summer. Love them or hate them they're compulsive viewing if only for the stomach churning jingoism spurting from Motson and the fact that we all watch to see their inevitable failure.

Oh well

P.S. The pitch was absolutely atrocious tonight. They built a 90,000 all-seater stadium and plonked a bog in the middle of it.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Croatia were brilliant on the counter tonight, Modric looked a million dollars.

Only had brief glimses of him before tonight but was still surprised that he was still at Dinamo. His contract last until 2015 so it will take a lot to get Dinamo to sell.

[Noelys Guitar]

I was listerning to David Platt and with 5 mins to go he started going on about McClaren having 7 months to get things right! Err Dathi your 3-2 down. Mental stuff. Anyway Do I Quite Like That.

[razor]

As much as Motty irritated me, I'm a tad disappointed they lost but in the end they got what they deserved.
The BBC panel were surprisingly frank, it kinda threw me a bit, a refreshing change.
I bet Colleen is delighted Wayne will be free for the wedding next summer

[rambler14]

They were absolutely crap. Never looked like winning. Delighted for Slaven Bilic, never thought he'd make it as manager but what a team he has, one of the best teams i've ever seen on the break.
England's players didn't step up, its like they wanted McClown gone.
Carson big mistake
Bridge useless
Barry will lose his place to Hargreaves
Gerrard..captains performance me hole
Lampard had one touch
Wright-Phillips should have scored
Joe Cole is crap anyway
As for Defoe and Bent they wouldn't make the Irish bench never mind the England bench.
Actually fair fecks to Beckham he came on and played class.

[Green Tribe]

I lost my voice over the weekend was getting it back today, but after watching that game, have near lost it again. Penalty my arse. That referee looked like he was enjoying england's comeback a bit too much!
Basically England had one of the easiest groups to qualify from and overall did not deserve to qualify but i didn't want to tempt fate by saying that before the game

[jebus]

Gerrard tried in the first half I thought, then realised what shirt he was wearing and gave up, Becks played well when he came one, great cross for England's man of the match Peter Crouch, who I genuinely felt sorry for tonight. Can you imagine knocking the ball into that many great areas only to realise that after that that you are counting on Fatso Lampard to bust a gut to get in there?!

[rambler14]

Poor Crouch was knackered by the end of the game in the last 15 mins he didn't win one header.

[Scram]

The pitch at Wembley is a disgrace tonight.

The pitch is beautiful, the night is beautiful, Croatia is beautiful, football IS a beautiful game.

ps. "ha ha haha ha ha ha" sounds very good if sung to the tune of "The Great Escape"



bitter, twisted and happy Irishman, even a dive for a penalty didn't save Engerrrland for a change.

[geysir]

Enjoyed that

A bit of a Gallic understatement there Giuly, you were probably doing cartwheels all over your house.
I hear now they are blaming the Americans, for mucking up the pitch at the weekend with a NFL game there.

Croatia compared to England looked a class team

[superfrank]

Croatia were up for it tonight and well done for them. They could easily have sent a bunch of u-21's out, like Wales. They wanted to win, even when they'd won the group. It was great to see.

England were appalling. They didn't deserve to go through on that performance. McClaren will get all the blame, predictably, but imo those players were the fault England lost. They didn't do enough. They upped it in the second half but then fell back. Imo, it's the players fault. I feel sorry for McClaren.

[Feech]

I think we're all a bit guilty of Schadenfreude here, pleasure in the misery of others.

Thanks for explaining the meaning of Schadenfreude for the Lumpenproletariat you obviously believe post here......

[Superhoops]

.....Penalty my arse.......

bitter, twisted and happy Irishman, even a dive for a penalty didn't save Engerrrland for a change.

Definite penalty. Great spot by the lino. Too many of these are let go. The stupid part for the defender was that it was not necessary as the keeper had the ball.

.....Becks played well when he came one, great cross for England's man of the match Peter Crouch, who I genuinely felt sorry for tonight...

Agree Crouch was England's MOTM but that tells you how poor they were and what lack of ambition England had.

..Croatia were brilliant on the counter tonight, Modric looked a million dollars....

Totally agree. Despite England packing midfield, this guy ran the show in that area.

Croatia displayed tonight what 'pride in the jersey' is all about. They went into a game where they had already qualified, on a shi*ty night, on a shi*ty pitch got pegged backed back from 0-2 but still had the desire and passion to lift themselves to win the game.

[DmanDmythDledge]

England were appalling. They didn't deserve to go through on that performance. McClaren will get all the blame, predictably, but imo those players were the fault England lost. They didn't do enough. They upped it in the second half but then fell back. Imo, it's the players fault. I feel sorry for McClaren.

While I agree with the jist of what you're saying McClaren has made some terrible decisions throughout the campaign. Dropping Beckham to begin with was foolish and was only done to make point, as his decision to recall him after England's poor start. Contiuing to play Gerrard and Lampard together when it's clear that that partnership doesn't work and most criminally tonight playing 4-5-1 when they badly needed the win. He'll be a lucky man if he's still England manager after all this.

[superfrank]

While I agree with the jist of what you're saying McClaren has made some terrible decisions throughout the campaign. Dropping Beckham to begin with was foolish and was only done to make point, as his decision to recall him after England's poor start. Contiuing to play Gerrard and Lampard together when it's clear that that partnership doesn't work and most criminally tonight playing 4-5-1 when they badly needed the win. He'll be a lucky man if he's still England manager after all this.

He isn't the best manager I know. However, there's only so much that can be blamed on the manager. I know the tactics he went with tonight didn't work from the start but he made the changes at half-time and they did play better. Then once it was 2-2, the players dropped off. Imo, you can't blame the manager for that.

[Réiteoir]

Bit of a mixed night:

Norway beating Malta 4-1 - but Turkey sneaking a 1-0 win against Bosnia to qualify instead of the Norwegians (Thank you Myhre you plank for ****ing up in Istanbul )

Finland missing out in the most heartbreaking circumstances possible AGAIN (meaning Jari Litmanen probably joins Ryan Giggs and Ian Rush as one of the greats never to go to an International Finals Tournament)

Spain and Sweden firmly putting Northern Ireland in their ****ty little place as a crappy one-player nation. kthx

Proud of Liechtenstein for one of their best ever Qualification Tournaments EVER

McClaren gone by Saturday tbh - hopefully replaced by Staunton

But the return of the Home Internationals Tournament hopefully next summer - stop the smug Nordies from wheeling out the fact they're still "British Champions" - despite fluking that some 100,000 years ago. For the love of God - get it on and someone else win it PLEASE