Something tells me England won't make it. Looking at the probable names above I see a defensive attitude. Teams like Croatia will outplay you if you defend against them. You can only beat them if they are continuously pressed and given little time. They'll suffer only if you attack them. It's like Brazil - you let them play and keep the ball, and eventually they'll knock you out. You press them and give them little space and time with the ball, and attack them, and they'll probably lose (see the World CUp - Brazil vs France, which is an excellent example of this).

Croatia is a well-balanced squad. If they can counter England's midfield (which would be harder, I think, if England played two in attack), England really could be caught out.

Croatia have no pressure on them, they'd probably be happy to knock England out, and give Russia a hand. And it would be a laugh...

Need to watch out for Davor Suker. deadly

i'm born in moscow , i can only say Come on Croatia !

particularly when partnered with Alen Boksic

Yeah, attack Croatia, thats the only way. 433.
Just need to keep on eye on Boksic, Suker and Boban

This is pure speculation (or gossip, if you prefer) and i do not claim it's anything more than that.

I made that introduction because i suspect the Croats might agree to end this game in a draw, a result which suits both teams. 3 reasons for my suspicions:

1) they don't need to win, while the English will (probably) need 1 point to qualify
2) English football and TV (+ other businesses) stand to lose a lot of money if the national team fails to make the Euro finals, so money won't be an issue if their desire is to ensure qualification and the Croats will be able to name their price, within reason.
3) Bilic is supposedly looking for a team in the EPL and i wouldn't be surprised if he was courted/approached before the game

I repeat, those are just speculatory suspicions and you (English and Croats) don't have to take them seriously and try to attack them or me.

Just ignore them for now and we can talk about them again (one way or another) after the match. If the Croats win then it will be obvious it was nothing more than gossip. If the English win, then it's 50:50. Maybe the game is fixed, but the fact Croatia will miss on top spot might mean it was a legit win. But if it's a draw i'd say it will be too convenient to ignore. After all, i remember a lot of fans on forums and journos implying something similar about Denmark and Sweden in the last Euro qualifiers, when the two countries settled for a 2-2 result, which saw them both go through. Everyone was sceptical of that result, although since then nothing has been proven. So it remains gossip.

I do have a sneaky suspicion we won't make it. But being at Wembley we really, really should - Croatia are no Brazil, despite the comparisons - they only managed one past Israel in Croatia, and okay one would do, but we are better than Israel. At least we should be.

Now, formation. I think we should go 3-5-2..

These days, Brazil are no Brazil.

They're 3rd in their SA World Cup qualifying group and only managed a 1-1 draw the other day against Peru.

I remember, in the not so distant past, when a team that ran flat out during the first half and managed to keep a clean sheet (or even score) against a "better" team nearly always ended up losing because they had nothing left in the second half. Teams like Brazil, Italy and Argentina would sit back in the first half, allow the opponents to wear themselves out, and them blow them away in the second half.

Now, teams like Croatia, Scotland, who IMO lack something in technique but have great stamina and strength, make the best of their strength throughout the entire 90mins and put "better" teams in difficulty because they can't "sit back and wait for them to get tired". They run, run, run all 90mins.

SO, to "make them get tired" you make them run, run, run more! Press them, keep possession(even if it means not scoring or really attacking). They'll get frustrated that way and make mistakes more... But you can't go into a match like this with one attacker. It'll push them out more. England will defend, and Croatia will attack, and score. ENgland will start long-balling all over the place to lanky-man and stupidly lose possession that way (it's what they've done for the past 40 years), and Russian's will laugh...

We are are mising some key players but i think the one's that are coming in will do a good job, they know the importance of this game and they'll be massively up for it. Will McClaren go with Defoe or Bent up-front with Crouch? I don't think he will. I think McClaren will play Crouch up-front with Cole or Gerrard playing between Crouch and the midfield, this means Lampard and Gareth Barry in the middle as I don't think McClaren wants to drop Fat Frank.

So everyone thinks Beckham will play? he wasnt that impressive against Austria but he supplied the cross for Crouch to score so at least he got an assist. There's talk of him not playing , but we don't know how true this is. there's no doubt we need his crossing abilities but there's a question mark over his fitness and the quality of football he's been playing over in th US.

If we go for a cautious approach I'll go with 1-1. If we start the game well and play for the win i'll go for 2-0.

Yeah, 352 worked well last time Steve. Get back to preparing your squad.

Brazil beat Croatia 1-0 in the WC. Croatia sat back, defended, with the occasional counter attack. They almost did it. Just a bit of class from Kaka to seperate them.
That was the old team with a different manager. Much has changed, including adding a bit of Brazilian to the side.


Possible fix? No chance. Croatia will have enough money after qualifying, and Slaven Bilic could walk into most jobs in the EPL right now. If you're talking about him going to one of the top jobs in football, the best advertisement for that, is to beat England.

Just checking the team news....Carson likely to start in goal, with King and Campbell at the back. Owen and Rooney are missing. Basically, we have 1st choice strikers and central defenders missing. Debatable about the keeper.

Croatia lost to Macedonia (in the second half) - if you're an England fan, you must be rubbing your hands. If you're Slaven Bilic, you must be rubbing your hands at England fans rubbing thier hands.
Macedonia are an OK side. Not exactly gonna qualify for many competitions, but the odd shock result could be there.
What I'm trying to say, is that Bilic will be doing eveything he can to beat England. For his country and also for himself. England, and fans must be very optimistic after seeing them lose in Macedonia.

England boss Steve McLaren has dropped error-prone keeper Paul Robinson and has kept faith in last wekk debuton Scott Carson..

David Beckham has also been dropped to the bench!

Shaun Wright-Philips has taken becks' spot as England will play a 4-5-1 formation with crouch up front.

I suppose dropping Robinson had to be done sooner or later. Should have really done it sooner, if he was gonna do it. On the eve of a very important match is not ideal.

Almost as bad as experimenting with 352.

He can't do nothing right, that McClaren!

Unfortunately, that wouldn't surprise me - I don't have great faith in the current management team or organisation.


I agree - its conspiracy theories gone mad.

Yeah, at least have a decent link for a conspiracy theory...like Roman Abramovich being a Russian Jewish Billionaire - who should have paid Israel off.

The closer it gets to kick off, the more bad feeling I get about England losing. Middle of the park is fine, it's just the makeshift defence which is of concern. Besides Micah Richards at Right-Back, no first choice players.

Probable Croatia team:

Pletikosa

Corluka----????-------R. Kovac-------Simunic

Srna------N. Kovac-----Modric-----Kranjcar

Eduardo-----Olic.


Good news for England if Mladen Petric doesn't play.

It's funny.

All russian sites say with 100% of sure: England will beat Croatia

The funny thing, just imagine:

England loses to Croatia but Rassia makes draw against Andorra:) Honestly, i will not be surprised.

This Qualification is a joke for both England and Russia. Sorry, but that's my opinion

What time is kick off?

My TV is working properly, so i can't check.

8.

Has anyone heard any word on the state of the pitch - is it in decent nick after the NFL boys strutted their stuff on it recently?

Excuses starting already!

Nah, heard nothing. Guess it wil be fine though, fairly new.