The Mid-week Review

by Danny Wright

England’s qualification hopes hang in the balance as they were defeated 2-1 by Russia last night in Moscow. England had taken the lead after Wayne Rooney smashed home Michael Owen’s flick but couldn’t build on their advantage as Steven Gerrard and Sol Campbell missed easy chances. The Russians were to make McClaren’s men pay in the second half as they got a deserved equalizer, Rooney pulling down Konstanin Zurianov to win a penalty. The replays showed the incident occurred outside of the box, but this mattered little as Roman Pavluchenko slotted home, and the substitute was on hand to strike again as Paul Robinson failed to hold Alexei Berezutsky's shot to give the home side the win. England now have to rely on Israel holding Russia to a draw or defeat next month, meanwhile McClaren’s men must beat Croatia at Wembley to have any hope of qualifying.

Scotland couldn’t build on their win over Ukraine as they slipped to defeat away at lowly Georgia. James McFadden was denied a stonewall penalty when Blackburn centre-back Zurab Khizanishvili upended the Everton man, with Kenny Miller going close after good link up play down the Georgian left. The Scots’ early pressure counted for nothing though as 17-year-old Levan Mchedlidze headed home from a corner, and David Siradze scrambled home a second to end Scotland’s winning streak. Scotland must now beat World Champions Italy at Hampden to qualify.

Northern Ireland’s qualification hopes also faltered, as they could only manage a draw away at Sweden. The home side went ahead after 15 minutes when Olof Melberg headed home, but Nigel Worthington’s men hit back thanks to Kyle Lafferty’s superb individual strike. Mathematically Northern Ireland can still go through, but results need to go their way and they must collect maximum points from their remaining game against Denmark.

The Republic of Ireland limped to an embarrassing home draw to Cyprus, 1-1 the final score at Croke Park. Stelios Okkarides headed the Cypriots ahead after 80 minutes having spurned three good half chances, and it was left to unlikely scorer Steve Finnan to save Eire’s blushes with a fierce injury time volley. There were 15000 empty seats in Dublin as Steve Staunton’s men looked to avenge their 5-2 defeat to Cyprus in Nicosia last year, yet there were to be no heroics as the Irish miss out on another major international tournament.

Wales enjoyed somewhat better fortunes as they stumbled to a win over San Marino, Craig Bellamy and Joe Ledley scoring the Welsh before Andy Selva pulled a late goal back from a free-kick. The pressure mounts on under-fire manager John Toshack, whose side lie second bottom in their qualifying pool.

Romania, Germany, Czech Republic and Greece have already qualified for next summer’s championships, something many England fans will no doubt be envious of in their current state.

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