Moscow will be remembered by England fans for a number of reasons. The saga of visa applications, the over booked hotels, the fights in the city centre and if not the final nail, definitely, the last but one in the coffin of England’s hopes of qualifying for the Euro 2008 finals next summer.
The autumn had started well for England with excellent 3-0 wins against Israel and Russia within the space of a few days. A third ‘job done’ 3-0 win against Estonia saw England travel to Moscow 5 points ahead of their rivals although Russia having played one game less. A point would have been good with a win securing a place in the finals.
There was talk about the plastic pitch at the Luzhniki giving the Russian’s an advantage…it seems that home advantage is something that is no longer allowed !! My opinion is that it was laying the foundations for later excuses…and that wouldn’t be a first offence.
So onto the game. 4,000 fans had travelled from England into the Moscow cauldron of 80,000. The first half was fairly even and a bit of brilliance from Rooney, who seems to have regained a bit of form for his country, saw England leading at half time. All was good and England were just 45 minutes from a ticket to the finals.
However, nothing is that simple. Russia couldn’t afford to lose, they were in front of their own hungry fans and the coach is a brilliant Dutchman who in their wisdom, the FA didn’t think was a suitable replacement for Eriksson. The tactical battle started – Hiddink v McLaren – oh dear !!!
England with one of the meaniest defences in world football had to keep a clean sheet for 45 minutes. Was it really such a problem? Big Sol was his normal reliable self in the absence of John Terry although Lescott once again didn’t convince on the international stage. Hiddink made his change and Russia were causing England problems. Gerrard missed an excellent chance to make the game safe and then disaster. For some reason, Rooney needed to make a challenge on the edge of our box (where were the defence and midfield) and the home side were awarded a bit of a dodgy penalty. However, as they had a perfectly good goal ruled out at Wembley when the score was 1-0, it was hard to complain too much. Hiddink’s substitute hit a low shot into the corner past Robinson and the Luzhniki came to life. Now was the time for the spirit of Butcher, Pearce and Robson to be shown by the current players wearing the 3 Lions.
The goal brought the Russian’s to life. They wanted more than a point and they smelt blood. Some sustained pressure and a couple of failed clearances saw Robinson drop a shot on the edge of the 6 yard box and despite being behind Lescott, the Russian striker muscled in to knock the ball into the net and the unthinkable was being thought. The tactical battle took another twist – Crouch came on up front to give away free kicks, Lampard came on for Wright-Phillips and one of the most bizarre moves I’ve ever seen was to bring on Stewart Downing at left back for Lescott. Not surprisingly, this triple substitution had no positive effect and England’s challenge petered out.
This result left qualification looking bad for England. England are 2 points ahead of Russia with a home game against group leaders, Croatia left. The day after our friendly in Vienna, Russia travel to Israel to play their game in hand. A victory there will see them move ahead of England with an away game in Andorra left to play and lets be under no illusions – Andorra are a pub team. Victory for Russia is not going to be an issue.
So where has it all gone wrong? After the qualification groups were drawn, a Scots friend of mine was insisting they were rigged as we couldn’t possible have such an easy group. Add to that, as top seeds, we dictated the fixture list so absolutely everything was in our favour in terms of opponents and when we played them.
Clearly, McClaren isn’t up to the job. He shows little passion, tactical knowledge, understanding of players etc etc. But should you blame the man who isn’t good enough, or the man who employed him? That man is Brian Barwick. Barwick was also the man who oversaw the collapse of ITV Digital and caused financial hardship for many lower league clubs. Phil Scolari and Guus Hiddink (pictured) were both available at the same time there was a vacancy for England position yet we end up with the Ginger Sven. Our (almost certain) failure to qualify started with McClaren’s appointment. The problems have been obvious from day 1 of his reign and now we find ourselves on the brink of failing to qualify for a major tournament for the first time since 1994…and this is from a group, we should have won at a canter.
