Disaster

England - Croatia 2-3 : 1st Goal by Niko Kranjcar
Uploaded by Tiresias11

I said it would be funny if England, granted a lifeline by Israel, contrived to lose to Croatia at Wembley. Well, they did, but I'm not laughing, because poor Scott Carson is going to be one of the many scapegoats of this latest failure.

Paul Robinson needed to be dropped, but it should have happened long ago. To give a 22-year-old keeper his competitive debut in a do-or-die game is simply asking for trouble. I only hope the talented Carson can recover from this. You have to think he won't be getting another cap soon. If any good comes from this, perhaps Robert Green will finally get a look-in.

England have bigger problems than goalkeeper errors and bad managers. This the the 6th major tournament they've missed out on since winning the 1966 World Cup. Greece and Denmark have won trophies in that time. The FA have got to start seriously rethinking every aspect of player development and coaching.

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