To track the last time that England failed to qualify for a major international event, we need to turn the clock a decade and a half back to USA ’94. England finished third behind Norway and Netherlands in their group, and as a result never made the trip across the Atlantic. This time around, Steve McLaren’s boys went into the last round of games needing just a single point to go through. That point would not have been necessary had Andorra managed to hold Russia or even beat them. Andorra were the weakest team in the group, and nothing much could be expected from them. And therefore England had all to play for against Croatia, and the game was at the Mecca of English football- Wembley.
Russia lose to Israel, England handed lifeline, Scotland dream over
Here are the results from European qualifying on Saturday, 17th November.
The teams which have confirmed their place in next summer’s European Championships are
Group B – Italy and France.
Group D– Germany and Czech Republic.
Group E– Croatia through. Battle between England and Russia for the other spot.
Steven Gerrard- Introduce Premiership quotas
Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerrard has said that he would not be against a rule that imposes quotas in the Premiership.
This comes a short while after both Steve Coppell and Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly said that they were in favour of a rule that would limit the number of foreigners taking the pitch.
Even the English Prime Minister has something to say on the issue.
So the big question is- Do we need a quota system ?