Croatia 1-4 England – At last England impress

By: Martini Extra Dry | September 10th, 2008

A Theo Walcott hat-trick and Wayne Rooney’s first England goal in almost a year were enough to give England the victory in what was Croatia’s first ever competitive defeat at home. The former Yugoslavian nation has had a competitive side since 1990 and in that time has recorded 25 wins and 10 draws at home… now they have 1 loss on their record too. The win puts England top of Group 6, in a league that only 1 team will definitely qualify from.

It was an entertaining game, particularly for the frustated England masses who had very nearly given up hope of England ever playing well again, but the game was very much influenced by bad refereeing decisions…

In the first half England should’ve been awarded a penalty when Emile Heskey was wrestled to the ground by Simunic but the England complaints were soon forgotten when three minutes later we were ahead. Theo Walcott capitalised on a defensive mishap by the Croats and slotted neatly into the far corner to open his England account.

Many will remember Graham Poll making himself look silly by awarding a player three yellow cards before sending him off, well that man was Simunic and in this game he deserved at least 3 yellow cards. He only saw one though as the ref seemed unwilling to send him off. But then changed his stance on keeping players on the pitch by sending off Robert Kovac. Joe Cole went up for a header with Kovac and was caught by his elbow. I’ve seen them given plenty times before, but never like this. The ref gave a foul and was about to carry the game on when he saw Joe Cole get up with blood on his head, stagger a few yards then collapse. The sight of blood changed the refs mind from no card to straight red.

With quarter of an hour to go there was still time for the ref to change the scoreline of the game by disallowing an England goal that should’ve stood and allowing a Croatian goal that shouldn’t have. England combined beautifully for a great team goal, giving Lamps a chance to quieten some of his critics but the ref wrongly decided that Heskey had fouled a Croatian defender. Then just a few minutes later John Terry went to head clear but ended up heading Srna’s studs. The high foot was ignored and Craotia turned it into a goal.

Bad refereeing is easy to forget though when the positives are so abundant as last night’s;
- Theo Walcott scored not just his first England goal but also his first England hat-trick
- England broke Croatia’s 18 year unbeaten at home record
- we got revenge for their double over us that knocked us out of the Euros before we even got there but most importantly of all…
- England played well! Yes, you read that right; England played well!
We started off tough and stood our ground but once we got ahead there was no stopping us. With a Michael Owen type on that pitch it could’ve easily been 6.

Next up for England is Kazakhstan (apparently part of Europe, not Asia, it’s the place that Borat is from and the largest landlocked country in the world, but don’t worry football isn’t their greatest talent) as England look to maintain their position at the top of the group throughout the qualifying campaign.

Does it make up for the two embarrassing goals we conceded and the two losses they inflicted on us? No, but it helps. So enjoy your day at work, or whatever it is your doing, safe in the knowledge that England are no longer shit (isn’t it great how one result can get this nation so carried away?!)