McClaren not Soacked by Rain but by Hatred

Steve McClaren’s reign as England manager came to a painful finish as England were denied a place at this summers European Championships after a defeat at Wembley to Croatia.

It wasn’t just raining on McClaren, it was pouring. His 18-month tenure as England Coach was ended by a 30-yard strike from Mladen Petric, beating Scott Carson for the third time on the night and ending our European dream.

England went in to the game needing just a point to secure qualification to the 2008 European Championships, after Israel beat Russia to put England’s fate back in their own hands. Croatia on the other hand had just been beaten in Macedonia and still needed to a point to secure top spot in Group E.

Although McClaren had a selection problem with several first team players missing including captain John Terry and central defensive partner Rio Ferdinand, England still should have had enough to win the game. This game proved to the nation again not to hold their breath for an England victory.

Scott Carson got the nod in goal over Paul Robinson and after just eight minutes, the England manager was cursing his own decision after Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar's struck a shot from 25 yards, only to see the ball bounce just before Carson and fumble it into the top corner.

England went into half time two goal’s down and had to deal with a chorus of boos that rung around Wembley, apart from the small corner in which the Croatian fans were surprised but jubilant at what they were seeing before them. The fans were in disbelief at the lack of fight the players were putting up in such an important match, and playing at the home of football in front of 90,000 people.

Croatia looked stronger, more assertive and played with a fanatic flair that England just couldn’t cope. Slaven Bilic’s men looked more like winning the game and when Ivica Olic walked the ball in on 14 minutes after a sublime run from Arsenal’s Eduardo, England had a mountain to climb. The terrible thing happening was, England were relying on an Andorra equaliser against Russia to give Steve McClaren a get out of jail card. This was something that would have been very rare to find as Andorra had lost there last 29 international fixtures.

In the second half, the performance improved for McClaren’s side with goals coming from a Frank Lampard penalty and a Peter Crouch volley, courtesy of the two half time substutions bringing on Jermain Defoe and David Beckham. After drawing the game level and back in a position to qualify, England still couldn’t hold on a Croatia took control of the game by regaining the league.

McClaren, who’s only managerial success came in the league cup final beating Bolton, was emphatically booed and made to look ridiculous under his umbrella, facing chants from the terraces of ‘sack him now’. This failure to qualifier for a major tournament was the first time England had missed since the 1994 World Cup in the USA and so surely McClaren would be out of a job.