England face Montenegro tonight in a vital 2014 World Cup qualifier, and it is their most important for over five years.

Back in November 2007 I was at Wembley to see their last crucial qualifier, against Croatia. England, managed infamously by Steve Mcclaren at the time, knew that just a draw would be enough to qualify for Euro 2008, while a defeat would send their opponent’s through. On what was a wet, ultimately miserable night, England found themselves 2-0 down early on, with Scott Carson’s howler still vivid in the memory. A Frank Lampard penalty and a Peter Crouch equaliser, which sent Wembley into raptures, looked to have done the job, only for a late strike by Mladen Petric to stun the hosts. It was an absolute disaster, and a repeat against Montenegro would be pretty grim too. Read the rest of this entry →

While many are talking about the importance of England’s trip to Montenegro on Tuesday night in their 2014 World Cup qualifier, the real crunch tie comes at Stade de France between France and Spain, two of Europe’s heavyweight sides.

After the World and European champions’ surprise 1-1 draw at home to Finland on Friday night, they now find themselves two points adrift of Didier Deschamps’ side at the top of Group I with four games to play.

In what is always an intimidating ground to visit, Spain will have their work cut out in what is arguably a must-win game for the winners of the last three major tournaments. With all due respect to the other sides in the group- Georgia, Belarus and Finland- you would expect both France and Spain to pick up maximum points from their remaining games, making their showdown virtually a one-game battle for automatic qualification for one of sport’s greatest events in Brazil next summer. Read the rest of this entry →