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2ND DEC 2008
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 So here we are seven months into Steve Mclaren’s reign as England head coach – and things are starting to look very desperate. The honey moon period well and truly over and a team ranked 10th in the world-are facing a make or break week as far as qualification for Euro 2008 ( a tournament England have been tipped to win) is concerned,
Sven’s departure signified a new era in English football. An English manager in charge once again. With this came the exclusion of inspiration David Beckham – who had only resigned from his captain’s role after the World Cup. However even without Beckham things started to look good with Mclaren in charge with three opening victories. These included the drubbings of Greece and Andorra as well as the 1-0 victory in Skopje against Macedonia.
This great start also came with new captain John Terry really showing his credentials in this role and even scored in his first game as captain. Everyone from the media and the public were really starting to build this team up as being a possible tournament winning side – and this was before the return of strike partnership Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen!
However October 7th 2006 is where Mclaren took his first tumble. A bore draw 0-0 at home with Maccedonia. It wasn’t so much of the result but more of the performance that let down the fans. Not once did England look like scoring and the day was summed up when Gary Neville failed to take advantage of England’s best chance midway through the second half. But seven points from three qualifiers was acceptable and this game was surely just a blip. How we were wrong.
The next competitive fixture came in Croatia. This night is one that will want to be forgotten by all players- especially Paul Robinson as a Gary Neville back pass took an awkward bounce (under the eyes of a Borat advertisement as well as millions of viewers back home) and somehow eluded Robinson and rolled into an empty net. The two nil score-line reflecting a very tame performance from England, a comfortable victory for the Croats.
This had been the worst England result in a qualifier for over 13 years, a record that I’m sure Mclaren was not happy to break. Off the field incidents before the game had resulted in England fans being attacked by Croatian police for no apparent reason. Charges from Europe’s governing body UEFA were later dropped.
November saw England play Holland in Amsterdam. A 1-1 draw where the only positives were the debut of youngster Micah Richards and that Wayne Rooney was back and scoring his first goal for over a year in the famous three lions shirt. Although the performance wasn’t great fans stayed fairly optimistic but the worst was yet to come.
February 7th 2007, the day England lost a home international match for the first time in three years. This defeat came at the hands of Spain, and although the lose to Spain wasn’t entirely unexpected due to the selections that ‘ginger Sven’ had made, the performance was dire. For the second home game in a row England failed to register a real meaningful attempt on goal. The run of results led to the home fans booing the team off the pitch. As a fan who actually goes to the games home and abroad I fully understand the disappointment of the fans.
So here we are just six games into Mclaren’s reign and almost everybody is calling for him to be sacked. March sees England travel to Tel-Aviv and Barcelona in the space of just four days – to play Israel and Andorra. Looking at the current standings these are two must win games if England want to get back in the driving seat for qualification. Anything less then four points will leave England in a position where they almost certainly can’t afford to drop anymore points. And with games against Croatia and Russia at home as well as an away trip to Moscow this would prove to be a very difficult task.
Should England not qualify for the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland then Mclaren only receives half of his wages and will definitely be sacked. But for the fans of England football team not qualifying is not an option. Not qualifying will be the biggest travesty in International football for years. On the bright side though, Michael Owen is looking like he will be ready for the trip to Estonia in June and should we qualify I believe that England should be aiming for at least a semi final place next year.
I will be in Switzerland and Austria next year. I sincerely hope that England are as well!
Provided by Liam Newman (United Kingdom) |
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