4 minutes of magic

Roman Pavluchenko


Russia, have a brilliant chance to qualify for the Euro which is to be held next summer after they defeated England on Wednesday night. After this defeat their qualifying chances look very meek. Russia on the other hand have a bright chance to qualify along with the group leaders Croatia as they have 2 more matches in hand. Rooney opened the scoring for England in the 29th minute with a screamer, which was slightly offside though. England were in complete control of the game. During the start of the second half Gerrard got a very good chance to score but the England skipper failed to find the back of the net. 4 minutes of magic by Russia changed the match. England would call those four minutes as 4 minutes of madness. Rooney committed a foul just outside the penalty box but the referee awarded Russia a penalty. The assistant referee didn’t give the decision but the main referee who was quite a distance from the incident spotted the foul . The substitute Pavluchenko eventually scored from the spot kick. Next within 4 minutes he scored again as Robinson failed to grab the ball. It was a simple tap in goal. Poor goal keeping cost them their match . Mclaren was furious after the match and said that England were in complete control of the game and the Russians were running out of ideas and the penalty changed the match. He said that the referee should shoulder responsibility for this defeat. Well, he never mentioned a word about Rooney being offside during the frirst goal. Gerrard’s error proved costly at the end. Mclaren would be kicking his fate for this defeat. Now England’s Eoro 2008 hopes and Mclaren’s job rest in the hands of Israel .

" Disgraceful penalty decision cost us "
Mclaren , Steve

"England not qualifying , unthinkable "
Gerrard , Steven


Some important facts...

1.Rio Ferdinand had gone 1021 minutes without conceding a goal for his club and country before Pavluchenko scored. the next spell lasted for 4 minutes

2.If England fail to qualify it'll cost the economy atleast 1.25 billon pounds

3. Mclaren would lose his job for sure if England fail to qualify

4. Paul Robinson would be the first on the casualty list if Mclaren quits

5. It would be the frist time since 1994 that England fail to qualify for a major tournament

6. Jose Mourinho , Arsene Wenger and Klinsmann are all linked with the England job

Here's the highlights of the match.[ Print isn't that good ]