WEMBLEY, ENGLAND — England will miss next year’s European Championship in a huge embarrassment to the nation that invented modern soccer.
Needing only a tie at home in its final qualifier, England allowed two quick goals, got an equalizer off David Beckham’s cross and then lost to Croatia 3-2 Wednesday night.
It’s the first major tournament England will miss since the 1994 World Cup, and is likely to lead to the departure of coach Steve McClaren, who benched Beckham for the first half and started a new goalkeeper in a pair of debated moves.
McClaren, much criticized since replacing Sven-Goran Eriksson, is unlikely to stay on — Graham Taylor quit six days after England failed to qualify for the ’94 World Cup.
Russia (7-2-3), in a game played simultaneously, won 1-0 at Andorra to climb one point ahead of the English (7-3-2) and finish second to Croatia (9-1-2) in Group E.
The English, whose qualification chances dwindled when they wasted a second-half lead and lost at Russia last month, had been given new hope when Russia was beaten at Israel last weekend. But playing against a team that already clinched a berth in the 16-nation field, England failed to take advantage.
With Beckham on the bench, the English fell behind when Niko Kranjcar’s 25-yard shot dipped and bounce off a knee of goalkeeper Scott Carson, who was making his international debut. McClaren used Carson in place of Paul Robinson, whose play has been shaky of late, and started Shaun Wright-Phillips ahead of Beckham in an effort to inject speed.
Ivica Olic made it 2-0 in the 14th minute, beating an offside trap, taking a pass from Eduardo da Silva and going around Carson before putting the ball into a corner of the net.
Beckham entered at the start of the second half in his 99th international appearance, and Jermaine Defoe came on to add offense.
Frank Lampard converted a penalty kick in the 56th after Defoe was fouled by Josip Simunic in the penalty area. Beckham’s cross in the 65th set up a tying goal by Peter Crouch, who chested the ball and volleyed it past goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa.
Mladen Petric put Croatia back ahead in the 77th from 25 yards, beating Carson to the far corner.
Heavy rain left the field at Wembley Stadium waterlogged in patches at each end. The penalty and corner areas were covered by surface water while both teams warmed up. Field staff worked to remove divots.
The 16-nation field for next year’s European Championship. The
draw is Dec. 2:
Austria (co-host), Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (co-host), Turkey
