Attention all England fans in the UK!

If you're one of the many millions of people that missed out on the chance to see England beat Croatia 4-1 last night, fear not.

You now have a chance to see extended highlights on terrestrial TV this evening, thanks to ITV1.

Mark Sharman, Director of ITV News and Sport said: "We’re pleased to have secured the highlights of last night’s 4-1 victory. We know there is a huge demand to watch England and we’re glad we can offer fans a chance to see the action."

ITV holds the rights to broadcast live coverage of all of England’s competitive home fixtures until 2012 beginning with England v Kazakhstan live on ITV1 on October 11.

The one hour highlights programme will be broadcast immediately after News at Ten at 10.35 pm tonight, so if you want to see England's greatest footballing victory since the 5-1 win over Germany seven years ago, follow your nose and check out ITV1 this evening.

You'd be a fool not to...

Euro 2008: Guide to Group B

Group B
If Group C is the group of football death then B is the group of actual death. If proceedings are handled badly we could be looking at a new European War stretching from the Ruhr Valley to the Balkans via the Baltic Sea. Thank God England didn't finish top of their qualifying group. Imagine being shoved in with that lot?

Austria

Qualifying
No qualifying for the Austrians. They're the co-hosts, you see. It’s a privilege given to only a select few countries, namely those with the biggest, most bulging brown envelopes addressed to Michel Platini, c/o UEFA.

How the mighty have fallen
Once upon a time, Austria were one of the kings of world football. Go back to any year between 1930's and 1950's and you'll have seen them giving almost anyone a decent match. Even in the 70's and 80's they were still getting to the World Cup Finals and when FIFA introduced their World Rankings, they registered a high water mark of 17th in June 1999 (see graph, above).

Nowadays, they're ranked 92nd below such giants of the game as Mozambique, Guatemala and Qatar and last month they reached an all-time low of 101st. The only way is up, as they say...

Players you might have heard of
Between the sticks there's former Arsenal goalkeeper Alex Manninger (now playing for Siena in Italy) and in defence we have Middlesbrough's Emanuel Pogatetz.

Players you won't be seeing
Wigan's Paul Scharner. Having made twelve appearances for the Austrian team, he had a major falling out with current coach Josef Hickersberger and called his country's F.A. setup a shambles. Despite attempts to rebuild bridges with Hickersberger, he remained absent from the Austria squad for Euro 2008 promptung Scharner to call time on his international career.

Recent friendlies
March 26: Austria 3 Netherlands 4
May 27: Austria 1 Nigeria 1
May 30: Austria 5 Malta 1

SPAOTP's Top Tip For Greatness
Martin Stranzl. For a team that's going to have to defend like fury against the might of Germany and Croatia, their 6 ft 4 inch centre back is going to have to be on his mettle in no uncertain terms. He can also score the occasional goal, too, as he's proved at 1860 Munich, Stuttgart, Spartak Moscow (his current club) and in the international side.

Croatia

Qualifying
Us English know all too well how the Croatians did in qualifying. They topped the group by five clear points ahead of Russia having lost only one of their twelve games. Key to their success was Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva who bagged ten goals, but after breaking his leg in the Premier League, he'll be noticeably absent over the next few weeks.

Current Form
Despite an emphatic qualifying round, they're finding life without a prolific forward not so easy. In the four friendlies since the 3-2 defeat of England that clinched their place at the Euro's, they've won just one and scored only three. Worrying…

Players you might have heard of
Aside from coach Slaven Bilic, who fans of West Ham and Everton will remember fondly, the squad boasts Manchester City's Vedran Corluka in defence and Portsmouth's Niko Kranjcar in midfield.

Recent friendlies
March 26: Scotland 1 Croatia 1
May 24: Croatia 1 Moldova 0
May 31: Hungary 1 Croatia 1

A small price to pay
Clubs and countries were on high alert recently when it became clear that Slaven Bilic's contract with the Croatian FA was about to run out when Euro 2008 was over. Given the fact that he was earning a paltry £35,000 a year, it's fair to say that he could easily earn a higher wage elsewhere but Bilic made a big commitment to the Croatian team by agreeing to renew his contract unconditionally until 2010.

Curiously he left it to his employers to award him a salary they thought was appropriate given his recent successes, but did make one stipulation - that his assistants be given a considerable wage. Robert Prosinecki is one of those that fits into that category and to date he hasn't earned a single penny for helping out his former Croatia team-mate

SPAOTP's Top Tip For Greatness
In the absence of Eduardo, the man being asked to step into his boots will be Luka Modric. The Dinamo Zagreb midfielder has the critics cooing over him something rotten. He's got a powerful right foot, can distribute the ball better than most and has been likened to none other than Johann Cruyff. "He's hard even to foul" said Bilic.

Germany

Qualifying
Some people have made big news of the fact that Germany only finished second in Group D behind the Czechs, but we think that's poppycock. The fact of the matter is Germany were the first to qualify from the group (maybe even the whole competition, if we remember rightly) and did so before Euro 2000 had even finished. More or less.

Oh yes - and they beat San Marino 13-0 as well.

Kit check
Germany do love their kits and you only have to go back to the 1980's to see a wide range of styles and designs to suit every taste. For Euro 2008, however, they've gone for a very bold black stripe across that famous white shirt. We're sure they've used the black stripe thing before now - perhaps back in the days before the Second World War - but we can find no evidence to prove it. Perhaps we're thinking of the German athletics team or something.

Anyway, if you think the white-with-a-black-stripe effect is bold, wait til you see the change strip. It features a red shirt with a broad black stripe running down the middle from top to bottom (see above). Apparently we've got Jurgen Klinsmann to blame for the switch from green to red. He figured that teams wearing red were statistically more successful than any other. It certainly worked for England in 1966...

Clear-cut favourites?
Even though everyone and his dog seems to be backing the Germans to win Euro 2008, there seems to be plenty of reasons not to. For a start, the squad contains many young players that lack a decent amount of experience on the international stage.

Of those that do have the experience of playing for their country, many, ironically, haven't been playing much for their clubs of late, and one key example is Jens Lehmann. He's just signed for Stuttgart after a season of only sporadic appearances for Arsenal, and his lack of regular match practice will be shared by other members of the squad like Christoph Metzelder, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski. Whether their undoubted star qualities will shine through anyway remains to be seen, but we won't bet the house on a German tournament win just yet if it's all the same with you...

Recent friendlies
March 26: Switzerland 0 Germany 4
May 27: Germany 2 Belarus 2
May 31: Germany 2 Serbia 1

Players you might have heard of
We've already mentioned Lehmann and Ballack, so that just leaves Thomas Hitzlsperger as a remaining Premier League stalwart to bring to your attention. He's the former Aston Villa midfielder with a blistering left-foot shot which these days helps him bag goals a-plenty at Stuttgart. He may only be used as a replacement for Torsten Frings, but what a good alternative to have, we say.

SPAOTP's Top Tip For Greatness
Michael Ballack. Yeah yeah, you know who he is and all that, but he's arguably the one main talent that the German team is based around, thanks to his goalscoring ability, experience and skill at distributing the ball to all parts of the team. And he takes a mean penalty, too.

Poland

Qualifying
What can we say... the arrival of coach Leo Beenhakker signalled a renewed sense of inner belief for the Poles during qualifying. After losing their first match 3-1 to Finland, they went on to top Group A ahead of Portugal, Serbia and the Finns. A particularly impressive 2-1 win over Portugal to accompany their previous 1-1 says everything you need to know - that Poland are capable of great things this summer. However...

Current form
'Iffy' would be a good way to describe it. Since qualifying for the finals last October, Poland have struggled to maintain the convincing form they'd shown previously. At the start of the year they beat the Czechs 2-0 in Cyprus but then lost 2-0 to the USA at home.

More recently they've scored three goals in their last three games during which they could only draw with Macedonia and scrape past Albania with a 1-0 win. Do we here the sound of wheels coming off?

Players you might have heard of
Several to choose from here. For a start, take your pick from all three goalkeepers well known to British fans - Arsenal's Lukasz Fabianski, Man United's Tomasz Kuszczak and Celtic's Artur Boruc.

Up front, Celtic fans will also recognise Maciej Zurawski - now at Larisa in Greece - plus there's Southampton striker Marek Saganowski.

Recent friendlies
May 26: Macedonia 1 Poland 1
May 27: Albania 0 Poland 1
June 1: Poland 1 Denmark 1

A man of some experience
What about that coach, eh? Leo Beenhakker - the man with a CV longer than Ruud van Nistelrooy's face. He's been everywhere and done everything during his career, so let's take a roll call of all the places where 'Don Leo' has brought his unique brand of leadership...

1972-1975 SC Cambuur; 1975-1976 Go Ahead Eagles; 1979-1981 Ajax; 1981-1984 Real Zaragoza; 1985 FC Volendam; 1985-1986 Netherlands; 1986-1989 Real Madrid; 1989-1991 Ajax; 1990 Netherlands; 1992 Real Madrid; 1992-1993 Grasshoppers Zürich; 1993-1994 Saudi Arabia; 1994-1995 Club América; 1995-1996 İstanbulspor A.Ş.; 1996 Guadalajara; 1996-1997 Vitesse; 1997-2000 Feyenoord; 2000-2003 Ajax; 2003-2004 Club América; 2004-2005 De Graafschap; 2005-2006 Trinidad and Tobago; 2006- Poland.

Marvellous.

SPAOTP's Top Tip For Greatness
Euzebiusz Smolarek. Scorer of nine goals during the qualifiers and a man of some considerable footballing pedigree. He was named after Portuguese legend Eusebio by his father who himself was no mug. Wlodzimierz Smolarek played for the Poland team that finished third at the 1982 World Cup and was the last Pole to score against Portugal before his son replicated the feat in October 2006.

There are more questions than answers...

Now's not the time to say 'I told you so'. What's done is done and now we must reflect on the consequences. We now know that England will not next year be playing at the European Championship Finals for the first time since 1984.

It will also be the first time England have failed for any major tournament since 1994, so what do we get from last night's 3-2 against Croatia? As far as I'm concerned, it raised more questions than answers.

First, an answer: the way Croatia played last night (i.e. in a comfortable, self-assured and competent fashion), it's fair to say that England do not deserve to be at the Finals because the quality of their play isn't up to that standard.

Question: Was Steve McClaren right to pick Scott Carson? Yes and no, in my opinion. No because last night's critical decider was not the place to give a 22-year-old with no international experience his debut. And yet given the alternatives (see previous article), perhaps some new blood with no previous reputation for untrustworthyness was worth a shot.

As much as I support Scott Carson in his development as a top goalkeeper, there's no avoiding the fact that the first goal was his fault as his technique was all wrong. That said, he made up for it with a performance that saw his early nerves dissipate and his shot-stopping abilities come to the fore once again.

Are the team playing as a team? No. There are undoubtedly some strong individual talents among England's ranks, but a unified strength seems to be lacking at the moment. Something for either McClaren or his successor to work on, perhaps.

Should David Beckham have played from the start? I doubt it would have done any harm. Though he's certainly not match-fit these days, he still retains a great sense of ball delivery in open play and in dead-ball situations. Maybe that would have been more of a factor if he'd had more of the game to play in.

Should Steve McClaren stay on in charge of the England team? For me, no. As one or two other people have mentioned on this blog, McClaren doesn't seem to be able to inspire his players. They play as if lacking any direction, and that could be something to do with a tactical naivety that brought Middlesbrough precious little in the way of glory while he was coach there.

If McClaren goes, who should replace him? Despite being from Northern Ireland, I'd personally like to see Martin O'Neill given a chance. I think the Terry Venables time has been and gone. Jose Mourinho? Sure, why not… although I doubt the job would interest him enough to take it. Alan Shearer? I think it might be worth giving him a go. Yes I know he has no international experience in coaching, but he definitely knows a thing or two and he undoubtedly has the iron will and mental strength to ram home the players' responsibilities when needed.

There are doubtless more questions and answers to come from England's failure to qualify, so feel free to post any of your own here. For the meantime, we'll try and get used to the idea of a Euro 2008 tournament that won't feature England. Strange. All very strange.

The Host With The Most: Euro 2012

One week from today in Cardiff, UEFA's executive committee will announce the venue for the 2012 European Championships. Three bids for the hosting rights are on the table: one is from Italy while the other two are joint bids - one from Poland and Ukraine, the other from Croatia and Hungary.

Italy are the favourites to win having secured the most votes in the previous round of UEFA's selection process. It was after the first round of voting that the bids from Greece and Turkey were rejected to leave the final three, but what is it that makes Italy the hosts elect out of those that remain?

Well to begin, Italy are the most experienced at organising major football events. They were the host country when the second World Cup Finals were held in 1934, and again in 1990. They've also held the European Championship Finals back in 1968 and 1980, so the organisational aspect to a venture such as this is one that Italy can comfortably deal with.

The other two pairings have no such experience, with the exception of Croatia who, as part of Yugoslavia, hosted one of the European Championship semi-finals in 1976.

Then there's the stadia. Italy have put forward eight stadia with a further four held in reserve should UEFA decide to expand the Finals to 24 teams from the current 16 (as is being suggested by various associations).

The stadia selected by the Italians are essentially the same as those used for the 1990 World Cup. Florence, Bari, Rome, Milan, Udine, Verona, Cagliari, Bologna and Genoa would undergo refurbishment while three new arenas would be built in Palermo, Naples and Turin.

The Polish and Ukrainian bid will focus on ten stadia - six in Poland, four in Ukraine - but seven of them are brand new venues and building work is due to be completed between 2007 and 2010. The average capacity of all ten stadia will be somewhere in the region of around 46,000 (compared to 52,000 for the Italian sites).

Like the other two contenders, Hungary and Croatia are also using a mixture of new and renovated stadia but capacity details are somewhat sketchy. What is known is that the successful bid would see the opening match played at Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium and the Final played in Budapest.

So the stadia side is all much of a muchness (although admittedly the Italians have the least work to do to reach the required standards. What of the other factors like transportation links and nearby accommodation for all the travelling supporters? Here's where the joint bids slip a little.

Italy seemingly have little to worry about. Only last year they made a wonderful job of looking after spectators from all over the world when the Winter Olympics took place in Turin. Go back to 1990 again, and you'll see evidence of another perfectly executed competition when the World Cup rolled into town. Transport links were excellent and hotel venues were plentiful in both cases.

Sadly the UEFA delegation weren't so impressed on their trip to Poland and Ukraine. They openly complained about the quality of the road between two of the venues, Gdansk and Lviv, while in Hungary and Croatia the lack of decent accommodation was a slight concern. That said, venues like Budapest and Zagreb have already benefited as profitable tourist destinations and a prosperous economy should ensure there are funds available to spend on any required improvements.

So do the two outsider bids stand any chance at all of hosting such a big event? Well the Hungarians and Croatians seem to think so. They feel they deserve the chance to host Euro 2012 because Italy have hosted the big tournaments so often before. They say that while Croatian football is currently riding high, Hungarian football is in need of a boost. Add to that the fact that Hungary have been all but overlooked since they were one of the best teams in the world in the 1950's, it's not hard to see why the slogan 'Give us the chance' is so prominent in their campaign.

The Ukraine and Poland can point even more towards a dire need to develop the game in their respective countries. They also suggest that a big competition such as the European Championships rarely finds itself so far east in Europe which in itself makes for a compelling argument.

The pair also proudly boast their organisation of various big recent sporting events, namely the Ski Jumping World Cup, the 2001 Volleyball World League Final and a callisthenics championship. Perhaps not much of a boast on reflection, then...

So is it just a formality for the Italian campaign team to turn up in Cardiff next week and be given the hosting rights? Perhaps not. There are some notable weaknesses which could prove to be a metaphoric banana skin as UEFA surveys the available options.

Last year, Italian football was left reeling after a match-fixing scandal that resulted in Juventus being relegated to Serie B and Lazio being withdrawn from this season's UEFA Cup. In February this year, a police officer was killed after the match between Catania and Palermo as violence between opposing spectators escalated to new levels.

And yet even those factors may not derail the Italian campaign. They have the pedigree, the experience, the infrastructure and the organisational skills to win the big prize, but will UEFA rule with their hearts rather than their heads in making their decision? If they're to acknowledge the fact that its group of nations stretches east beyond the German-Italian frontier, surely now would be the best time to give one of the joint bids a chance.