England fight back after disaster against Croatia at Wembley

Article by Toby Serter

Wednesday 21st November 2007, 21:28

Peter Crouch put away the equalizer at Wembley much to the relief of manager Steve McClaren as they continue to do battle against Coratia. 

The well timed strike came off the back of a superb cross from David Beckham in the 65^th minute.

England had clawed back from 2-0 down at half time and the first of the two England goals came within the first 5 minutes of the second half.

Earlier in the first half, Steve McClaren tried hard to hide his embarrassment as England conceded two goals in the first 15 minutes to Croatia at Wembley this evening.

The Eastern European underdogs were allowed two relatively simple chances to score, and did so with relative ease.

The first was a straight-forward strike from 30 meters which was fumbled by inexperienced keeper Scott Carson as he made a fundamental keeping error and allowed the ball to bounce off open arms and into the net.

The second goal came just 8 minutes after in another keeping error and allowed Croatian striker Niko Kranjcar to net a second goal from a quickly paced but straight-forward attack into the goal area.

Carson, currently on loan to Aston Villa from Liverpool has only clocked up one England cap previously to this evenings crucial game, but Steve McClaren was convinced he made the right decision to drop error-prone but more experienced Paul Robinson.

But, in an understated debut against Austria on Friday, Carson did enough to convince his manager he was the man to replace as the hosts look for the point required to ensure qualification.

"I made my mind up about the goalkeeping situation well before the players joined up on Sunday evening," said McClaren.

"I have made plenty of big decisions in the past and this is a big game when more big decisions will be made.

"It does not matter what age you are. You can be a big-game player at 18 or 33. Experience can be invaluable but so can the innocence of youth. There is risk in everything."

Former captain David Beckham was named among the substitutes for England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia on Wednesday but goalkeeper Paul Robinson was left out of the squad altogether.

Scott Carson, who made his debut in last week's 1-0 friendly win over Austria and barely touched the ball, was named in goal for the game where England need a point to reach the finals.

There was no place for Robinson, whose air-shot gifted Croatia their second goal in the team's first Group E meeting 13 months ago and who has been struggling for form all season, with former first choice David James on the bench.

Beckham, who looked off the pace in Vienna, will have to wait to earn his 99th cap as Shaun Wright-Phillips was preferred in the right midfield role.

BBC Sport understands the error-prone Tottenham keeper has paid for a series of high-profile mistakes with his England place.

Not only that, but Steve McClaren is believed to have handed him the indignity of not even being on the bench for the manager's most important game in charge of the national side.

Robinson, like about 90,000 other people inside Wembley on Wednesday, will be consigned to a watching brief as England attempt to take advantage of Russia's crucial slip-up in Israel and qualify for Euro 2008.

It will be the first qualifier Robinson has missed since McClaren took over from Sven-Goran Eriksson after last summer's World Cup.

So, is McClaren right to clinically dispatch a man who has previously been his most trusted glovesman?

Robinson has suffered a lean time this season, of that there is no doubt.

He has conceded 24 goals in 20 games and has made a catalogue of mistakes in the process.

The fact that Robinson is not at the top of his game is not in doubt. But is now the right time to dump him below the relatively untried Scott Carson and the veteran David James in the pecking order?

Comments
MATCH Posted by DINO on Thursday 22.11.2007, 11:28 AM We have much better team than England has.They are queens figures and decorations.I hope so taht you can find our county on the map,now.Proud to be Croat
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