ENGLAND QUALIFY IN STYLE!

 

 

England warmed up for their date with destiny with a friendly against Slovenia at Wembley. Well Lampard opened the scoring with a penalty that some said was iffy and overall we didn't look like we were on top form for this one. Defoe then made it two and from there on in we were cruising only for Zlatan Ljubijankic to pull one back late on with Fabio annoyed with the dodgy defending that led to the Slovenian goal. Still, the visitors couldn't find an equaliser. Overall, well a win's a win and Fabio knew as well as any of us that we needed to play better than that if we were going to get a result when it mattered. And he would have told the players that.

Now though, this was it. When we hammered Croatia at the Stadion Maksimir it was beyond our wildest dreams. Contrary to some of the media chat, we'd already had our revenge. Prior to this World Cup UEFA qualifying Group 6 match at Wembley, the man making the biggest noise was Slaven Bilic though what his talk of our "lack of Englishness" was meant to be about is anyone's guess. Bottom line was, win this match and we're off to South Africa. Draw, and we're through providing someone does us a favour. Terry and Upson central defence, Lennon right mid, Barry and Lampard centre mid, Gerrard left mid. Can anything stop the express?

Well the opening minutes were slightly iffy but once we got going, the answer looked to be no. The Croatian defence couldn't handle our pace and we opened the scoring with an 8th minute Lampard pen. Lennon then crossed to Gerrard in the 18th minute and we looked well sorted. Croatia really did not know what to do at that point and we looked to just be cruising through the match and threatening a third goal all the time it seemed. We didn't get a third before half time but there was no way that Croatia looked to be in a fit state to stop us from getting to South Africa. Though we couldn't get too cocky at this point, it was surely mission accomlished already.

Except that Croatia did seem to have big ideas early on in the second half. However, none of them came to anything and in the 59th minute Johnson crossed to Lampard for our third and even Fabio gave the camera a wink afterwards. Rooney then crossed to Gerrard in the 66th minute, 4-0 and as a back-to-back with the first game against the Croats this was getting unreal. We did get a minor reality check in the 73rd minute though, a sleepy defense allowing the Croatians multiple shots at our goal and Eduardo stuck his in. Fine by us though as Rooney then benefitted from a 77th minute goalkeeping blunder to have the last word in another stunning encounter.

Elsewhere...things really didn't matter. Bottom line is we are top of UEFA qualifying Group 6, seven points ahead of nearest rivals Croatia and that means that the Three Lions have secured a spot in South Africa! With two games to spare the only blight on the horizion is that we might not get to see one of our remaining qualifiers due to a TV rights technicality but other than that, well, two years can be a very long time indeed. Is the sky the limit? Not quite, the likes of Spain and Brazil will definately have something to say about us winning the competition but make no mistake this is our best chance to make the World Cup semi finals since 1990!

In UEFA qualifying group 9 Scotland were in the last chance saloon. First up came Macedonia at Hampden Park. Things were looking nervy in the first half but the Scots went on to come up with a 2-0 win which was enough to keep themselves in the running. They still had to return to Hampden Park though and this time around face the Netherlands. Scotland were certainly competitive against the already-qualified Dutch but the side in oranage came up with a 1-0 win. That left the Scots level on points with Norway and a spot in the playoff mixer but they were done in by a -7 goal difference deficit and once again, the Tartan Army will have to stay at home.

In UEFA qualifying Group 4, Wales faced Russia at the Millenium Stadium. Igor Semisov opened the scoring for the visitors with John Toshack's side already in deep trouble. They were making a game of it though and James Collins' equaliser gave them a ray of hope however that was shredded when Sergei Ignashevich and Roman Pavlyuchenko put them to the sword once and for all in what was a pretty serious reality check. It leaves Wales 4th in the group and 12 points behind Russia and the playoff mixer. With two games left, they are still out of it. I guess this isn't much of a surprise, better Welsh teams than this have missed out on major tournaments.

In UEFA qualifying Group 3, Northern Ireland were looking to keep their impressive campaign going. First up was Poland in the Slaski Stadium and though NI opened the scoring a late Polish equaliser saw them only come away with a 1-1 draw. Then came Slovakia at Windsor Park and this time cracks started to appear in their dream and they fell 2-0 to the group leaders which not only was not what Nigel Worthington had in mind, it wasn't what anyone expected. It means they drop to 3rd in the group, level on points with Slovenia and the playoff mixer but with a -5 goal difference deficit and Slovenia have a game in hand. NI are still in it but their dream may yet be over.

In UEFA qualifying group 8, the Republic of Ireland faced Cyprus at the Neo GSP stadium. Kevin Doyle opened the scoring for the Irish only for Marios Ellia to equalise for the home side with the Cypriots attempting an insane shot earlier in the half. The second half seemed to wind down a lot more but the Irish still maintained an edge but when unable to break through untill Robbie Keane grabbed a late winner to send the men in green home happy. That allows the ROI to remain second in the group and on course for the playoff mixer. They lie five points behind Italy who are on course for South Africa and five points ahead of Bulgaria and non-qualification.

So, now we come to the playoff mixer and right now the virtual group is made up of Sweden, Greece, Slovenia, Russia, Bosnia, Croatia, France, Republic of Ireland and Norway. They main team I'll focus on is the Republic of Ireland. Taking into account points reductions, ROI are currently 8th in the mixer, one point ahead of bottom side Sweden and are therefore on course for the playoffs. Bottom line, England are going to South Africa with two games to spare and another British Isles side are going to the playoffs. Forgetting England for a second, the picture isn't as good as it could be but then again, the Three Lions have qualified and to a large extent that's all that matters.

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