England Book Place in South Africa as Croatia Fight for Second

September 10, 2009

The Croats went to Wembley on the 9th confident and optimistic, however, left rather disappointed. Slaven Bilić was missing several key men and that made a world of difference for the squad. Hours before the match kicked off, Bilić had yet to announce their lineup and Fabio Capello was still having selection difficulties. The lineups for both countries turned out to be:

Croatia – Vedran Runje (gk), Josip Šimunić, Ivica Križanac, Danijel Pranjić, Niko Kranjčar, Darijo Srna, Ognjen Vukojević, Nikola Pokrivač, Eduardo Da Silva, Mario Mandžukić, Ivica Olić / Subs Used: Ivan Rakitić, Mladen Petrić, Ivan Klasnić

England – Robert Green (gk), Glen Johnson, John Terry, Matt Upson, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry, Aaron Lennon, Frank Lampard, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney / Subs Used: James Milner, Jermaine Defoe, David Beckham

The atmosphere at Wembley was ecstatic as the match kicked off. England took the lead 7 minutes in as Lennon went down in the box from a clumsy tackle by Šimunić. Lampard converted the penalty for the English with no mistake. Croatia keeper, Runje, was forced into some fantastic saves; however, Gerrard slipped one by in the 18th minute. At half time Croatia was happy with 2-0 score line as there was fear of the outcome last time they were in Zagreb.

It didn’t last long, as Lampard produced again and was soon followed by Gerrard, who made the score 4-0. Eduardo finally stole one for Croatia, but Rooney closed out the evening with a 5th goal after a crucial miss-kick by Runje. England had it made as Croatia dearly missed Luka Modrić pulling the strings in midfield and Vedran Ćorluka on the back line.

Since the last time these two nations met for the Euro 2008, Fabio Capello has really transformed his squad and Croatia coach, Slaven Bilić, has tipped them that they can win the World Cup if they can hold up their form. Bilić congratulated England on the victory and continued, “We didn’t expect this in our worst nightmares. They were fantastic from the start. They didn’t surprise us. They played their own game and they looked the sharper, more aggressive side even before the first goal. We were very happy at half-time that it was only 2-0. It could have been five. Our goalkeeper was fantastic. When we conceded a third goal we could not come back. I would like to congratulate them for a fantastic performance.”

“We were totally down in the dressing room and we will be down for days. I can’t find anything to hold on to. But luckily our next game is not in three or four days. In fact they play Kazakhstan in their last match in Astana on 14 October.” He added, “We knew without four key players we are not near the same team, but we didn’t expect the difference to be so big. But we have character. We are going to come back for our game against Kazakhstan.” As the table now stands, England are on top with 24 points, Croatia 17, Ukraine 15, Belarus 10, Kazakhstan 6, and Andorra 0. Croatia’s fate now rests upon the results of the next two rounds of matches. The fixtures are:

England – Ukraine
Belarus – Kazakhstan
Croatia – Kazakhstan
England – Belarus
Andorra – Ukraine

It seems that, if Croatia cannot win their next qualifier, and Ukraine win either over England or Andorra (or both), then Croatia will have to say goodbye to the World Cup 2010. Any outcome, other than a victory for Croatia and one loss and one win or two losses for Ukraine, would disqualify them.

So the pressure really falls upon the Croats now, as England can rest easy until next summer. On October 10th, England will play Ukraine, and on October 14th, Croatia will close out their qualifying against Kazakhstan.

Jill Guthrie

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