England had everything in place to qualify for Euro 2008 but couldn’t even manage a draw at home against Croatia. With the 3-2 loss, England will miss out on Euro 2008, lose World Cup seeding status and have to hire a new coach after Steve McClaren was let go.
The Football Association board fired McClaren on Thursday because of the loss to Croatia. "We have disappointed a heck of a lot of people," chief executive Brian Barwick said. "They're not all football fans, they're general sports fans. They are just people who see major sports occasions as a coming together of a nation. The England team is central to a lot of people's lives," Barwick said. "We know we are now in the situation where tens of millions of people won't enjoy the kind of summer tournament that we have got used to.”
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England had things in hand in the game against Croatia after striker Peter Crouch tied the game but a late Croatian goal sealed England’s fate. "England are expected to qualify for every major tournament and we are a big enough nation to do that," Crouch said.
England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 is expected to cost them a seeding in Sunday's preliminary draw for the 2010 World Cup. England dropped to 12th in the FIFA world rankings which means England is 10th of the European teams behind Argentina and Brazil. European teams will be drawn into nine qualifying groups in Durban, South Africa. FIFA uses the rankings to decide the seeds and that means England would miss out on a seed. The nine seeded teams are expected to be Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Croatia and Greece. Argentina is No. 1 in the rankings with 1,523 points, followed by Brazil with 1,502 and Italy with 1,498. Spain moved up two spots to fourth after qualifying for Euro 2008, while France dropped three places to seventh. The Czech Republic moved up three places to sixth.
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