England are through to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa after this comfortable win.
90 minutes: The final whistle came from referee and celebration started among the England players and fans.
87 minutes: Time is running out for Croatia.
85 minutes: John Terry shown yellow card for an unnecessary tackle.
82 minutes: David Beckham came off the bench to replace Lenon, while Lampard went off the pitch and Milner came in.
78 minutes: Wayne Rooney has now found the net as he scored the fifth goal. England fans can start celebrating for the occasion of getting into world cup 2010 finals.
74 minutes: England is going to have a sweet revenge of their Euro 2008 qualifying defeat by the same opponent.
72 minutes: Eduardo scored for Croatia.
70 minutes: Croatia has a corner.
Brian Robson and Allen Shierar are seen in the stand celebrating England's success.
67 minutes: England got another goal thanks to Lampard and is leading 3-0 in the game.
50 minutes: Croatia has got another good chance and it threatened English defense.
47 minutes: Croatia got a chance, but nothing happened in the end.
We will be back with the second half action.
45 minutes: It is now half time in the match.
43 minutes: The match is closing to half time.
40 minutes: England is playing much better than Croatia, but the visitors are desperately trying to decrease England's lead.
33 minutes: Croatia is trying to create chances, but England is still in control of the match.
30 minutes: Eduardo had a long range shot, but nothing happened.
22 minutes: There was a little chance for Croatia thanks to a silly mistake of English defense, but nothing happened in the end.
20 minutes: England is still dominating in the match.
18 minutes: Steven Gerrard scored the second goal for England.
13 minutes: Another good chance for England, but Croatia keeper was up to the mark.
10 minutes: England is dominating the match totally. Rooney has been excellent so far.
7 minutes: England scored from penalty thanks to Lampard after Lennon earned a penalty.
5 minutes: The match has started. England is in attacking mode, not neither side could score yet.
England needs a draw now to qualify for world cup 2010 finals as Ukraine drew with Belarus today in the other match of world cup qualifying round.
Firs Eleven of England and Croatia England: Green, Johnson, Terry, Upson, Ashley Cole, Lennon, Barry, Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Heskey. Subs: Foster, Brown, Bridge, Milner, Defoe, Beckham, Crouch.
You know that England and Croatia will face each other in a very important match of world cup 2010 qualification. The match kicks off at 20:00 BST and 19:00 GMT. In this entry, we will be giving you live score and updates of the match. So, be with us and enjoy the live updates of this crucial match.
England is going to take on Croatia on 9 September 2009 in a world cup 2010 qualifying match at the Wembley stadium. With 21 points from 7 games, England is currently leading the point table of UEFA group 6 and needs just another win to ensure their qualification for world cup 2010 finals. On the other hand, Croatia is struggling to keep its second position intact in the league standing with 17 points from 8 games. So, the visiting side will be in desperate need of points in order to hold on to its second place after this round.
No doubt, England fans are eagerly waiting to see the home side defeating Croatia, and thus, winning the world cup spot with 2 matches left in hand. England might consider the match as a chance to take a revenge of their humiliating 3-2 defeat at the hands of Croatia when they last faced each other at Wembley 2 years back. That defeat left England missing Euro 2008 qualification. England then clinched an emphatic 4-1 victory over the same opponent last year at Zagreb, Croatia in a world cup qualifying game. So, Croatian players will also be gearing up to replicate their previous triumph at Wembely.
Let us now talk about the television channels which are going to telecast the match live for the football fans. So far, I got only two TV channels who are going to cover the match live for their viewers.
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports will telecast the England-Croatia match live for football fans of Great Britain. Based on Ireland, Setanta is one of the popular sports channels in that region and it has individual channels in several other countries including United States, Australia, Canada and Africa.
Well, it is a pay TV channel. That means you have to subscribe for Setanta’s service in order to watch the match live on your television. Setanta Sports faced lots of criticism last year when it failed to come under a deal with one of England’s terrestrial channels where English fans can watch the highlights of England’s away games for free. However, the channel later on resolved the problem. Now, I just hope that Setanta Sports would not create any more controversy and their coverage of the upcoming match will be hassle-free.
Super Sports 3
Super Sports is one of the popular sports channels at this moment throughout the world. With a number of channels, Super Sports can cover a wide range of sporting events, and thus, attracting sports fans from all around the world.
The upcoming match between England and Croatia will be telecast live on Super Sports 3 television channels. That means African fans can easily enjoy the game. However, I am not sure if the channel can show the match in other continent as well. For example, in many countries of South Asia, Super Sports is not allowed to operate his activities because this is a free-to-air channel, and thus, it could affect the pay TV channels who have telecast rights of that particular match or event.
England is going to face Croatia in a much-awaiting world cup 2010 qualifier at the Wembley Stadium on 9 September 2009. England goes into the game knowing that a win would ensure their place in next year’s world cup finals, while Croatia is very much concerned about the fact that they can not afford to lose many points in their attempt to hold on to the second place of UEFA Group 6 in what would allow them to participate in the play-off stage of the qualifying process. So, both sides have their own set of targets that they would like to achieve through the match. No doubt, football fans are expecting an enticing affair on Wednesday at the Wembley stadium.
Match: England vs Croatia; FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualification
Indian Standard Time (IST): 00:30 am (10 September)
USA Time:
Washington (15:00); Los Angles (12:00); Chicago (14:00);
New York (15:00)
Just about 2 years back in November 2007, England experienced perhaps their most humiliating night in the history of football when they were defeated 3-2 by Croatia before a jam-packed crowd at the Wembley, and thus, narrowly missing out on a place in Euro 2008. That incident marked the end of Steve McClaren’s reign as England manager and caused a far-reaching effect on English side. On the other hand, that victory has become one of the sweet memories of Croatian football and has been an instance for Croatian footballers to take inspiration from.
The condition and the settings are totally different for Wednesday’s world cup qualifying game, even though the objective is same: to qualify for world cup 2010 finals in South Africa. Under new manager Fabio Capello, England has been in a seven-match winning streak in the ongoing world cup qualifying campaign, and thus, moving within a victory of clinching a world cup place. England leads the point table with perfect 21 points from 7 qualifying games, and in the process, England took a sweet revenge for their 3-2 Euro qualifying defeat by beating Croatia 4-1 on the road at the beginning of the current world cup qualifying competition. However, English fans would like to see the Three Lions winning over Croatia in front of them at the Wembely, and thus, ensuring their world cup qualification with two matches in hand.
England coach Fabio Capello is currently in a dilemma over deciding whom between Jermain Defoe and Emile Heskey to start against Croatia. He generally prefers Heskey to play alongside Wayne Rooney in the up front, but Tottenham striker Defoe has been in sparking form of recent, scoring five goals in the last three games for England. Defoe has left the thing to Capello saying that he is delighted with the way he is playing now.
Capello must now decide whether to start with his preferred partnership of Wayne Rooney and Heskey -- or with Defoe and Rooney up front for the match that will see England qualify for next year's World Cup finals in South Africa if they win.
"When Defoe plays in the second half he scores," said Capello. "I have to choose the side. I have time to decide."
Defoe said: "Everyone wants to play; no one wants to sit on the bench. But if I can come on and make an impact like I did, I'll do that. At the minute, everything I hit seems to be going in, I'm delighted."
Croatia, unlike England, has not been at their best over the last one year. They suffered two defeats in the world cup qualifying campaign and drew one in their 8 matches. From 8 games, Croatia has managed 17 points, just 3 points above third-placed Ukraine who has a game in hand. That means a defeat to England might risk Croatia’s second place, because Ukraine will face Belarus on the same day. So, Croatia will look to achieve at least a point from the England game in what would secure their second place until next game.
Croatia managed a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Belarus on Saturday, and there is no doubt, Croatian team was not impressive in front of home crowd. Croatian manager Slaven Bilic, however, seems not to be worried about England’s current form or Croatia’s recent ordinary form. Bilic claims that he knows a secret weak point of England side which his boys would like to capitalize on while facing England once again at the Wembley stadium.
"They have some advantages but they are also missing something from their game," he said.
"They are missing some Englishness, some of the things that have always made England teams difficult to defend against and play against.
"All I will say is that they are definitely missing something and we know what it is. But of course I am not going to tell you now what it is. It is our secret."
"We did not beat them 10 times in a row but, having said that, we are the only team in the world to have done it twice," Bilic told The Guardian. "We did it one after the other and that's important."
Croatia’s problems have been intensified by the absence of two key players: Vedran Corluka, who was sent off during 1-0 victory over Belarus, and Luka Modric, who suffered an injury during his club Tottenham’s premier league victory over BirminghamCity. Veteran goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa will remain sidelined due to injury.
You might say that England squad has no injury woe at this moment. Well then you should remember the fact that the current squad is missing the services of most experienced English defender Rio Ferdinand and youngster Theo Walcott- both of whom are currently recovering from their respective injury.
In the absence of Ferdinand, England defense looked exposed on a number of occasions over the last few games and the only goal they suffered in last Saturday’s friendly win over Slovenia was due to a lapse of their defense. Walcott has been in excellent form over the last one year and he scored a magnificent hat-trick in England’s 4-1 win over Croatia in last year’s world cup qualifying game. Naturally, England has lost some strength with these two players missing the game against Croatia.
Online Live Score and Updates
Here, I am giving you some names of websites from where you can get the live score and updates of the match:
Live Score
Goalzz
Live Football Scores
Goal.com
Footie Scorez
Overall, I think, England will defiantly start as favorite against Croatia, but given Croatia’s surprise performance last time they met at Wembely, I can not simple write off Croatia’s chances. England must work out their defense problems if they really want to do something special in a packed Wembely stadium. Otherwise, players like Eduardo da Silva could be a big threat for England and mar the celebration of English fans.
England hosts Croatia on 9 September (Wednesday) in a very important world cup 2010 qualifying game. England needs a win to clinch their world cup spot, while Croatia desperately needs point from this game. England leads the point table of UEFA Group 6 qualifying round with absolute 21 points from 7 games and needs 3 more points from 3 remaining games to ensure their world cup qualification. Croatia though stands second with 17 points from 18 games, Ukraine is breathing on their neck with 14 points from 7 games. That means, if Croatia failed to win any point from the England game and Ukraine wins over Belarus on the same day, both teams will be equal on points.
Well, English fans are now excited about the match because they want England to ensure their participation in the next world cup in the next game. You know that England failed to qualify for Euro 2008 after being defeated by Croatia in the last match of qualifying round. So, England would not like to miss the opportunity to take a sweet revenge this time. Now, let us see what is the time and venue of the game.
Time
The match between England and Croatia kicks off at 19:00 GMT and 20:00 BST (British Summer Time) on 9 September 2009. According to Indian Standard Time (IST), the match kicks off at 00:30 am (10 September).
Venue
The match will take place at the Wembley Stadium, London which is the home of England national team. After Barcelona’s CampNou, Wembley is the second largest stadium in Europe in terms of seating capacity. This ground can accommodate 90,000 crowds. The stadium was renovated which costs £798 million and opened in 2007. Wembley stadium has along tradition of football as the ground has been in use for football since 1880s. The stadium held five Champions League finals and the 1966 world cup final.
