INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL - EURO 2008 QUALIFIERS
England's chances of qualifying for next years European Championships hang by a thread.
If Russia take all points from Tel Aviv tomorrow against Israel then it's 99.9 % certain that they and not England will be travelling to Austria and Switzerland next year.
But despite the fact that Israel are expected to field a number of previously uncapped players for the clash, England manager Steve McClaren says he's still confident that his side will make it to the Championships.
He said today " I fully expect us to have qualified for the campaign. There is still a long way to go and a lot of events to unfold."
His optimism isn't shared by England football fans though who have been critical of their under achieving side.
England dropped points drawing 0-0 with Macedonia at home early in the campaign. This was followed by a 2-0 defeat away to Croatia in Zagreb.
When they faced Israel in Tel Aviv in March all England could manage was another 0-0 draw
Steve McClaren's side picked themselves up after that result winning all of their following games until they reached Moscow last month.
Having led 1-0 for most of that game England finally went down by 2-1 to Russia leaving them in this difficult situation.
Salt has been rubbed into England's wounds today after Croatian manager Slaven Bilic claims the reason England will not qualify is because they are over confident.
Bilic who used to play in the Premiership went on record as saying "The group was difficult. Maybe yoru approach was a little bit too self-confident in this campaign. It is not easy to come to Croatia and to get something from a game. It is not easy to play in Russia or to play Macedonia. And its very difficult to play in Tel Aviv. So maybe you were expecting you were going to cruise the group, but it's a very difficult group."
Under fire manager Steve McClaren has received backing from stand in captain Steven Gerrard and star striker Michael Owen but it seems the former Middlesbrough manager may be sacked if England fail to finish in the top two.
Israel have already lost at home in ths campaign when Crotia fled from the middle east with three points after a drama packed 4-3 win.
Steve McClaren will be hoping that was a blip not only for thE sake of qualification but for the sake of his job!
Isreal's home record in Group E so far.........
Israel 4-0 Andorra
Israel 3-4 Croatia
Israel 0-0 England
Israel 4-0 Estonia
