Euro 2008 Qualifying Group E:England have reverted to type. Not for the first time their qualification campaign has been stretched to its final fixture, a confrontation with Croatia following recent similarly nail-biting finales against Greece and Turkey, as the management contemplate the selection of a familiar midfield they hope can force similar progress. Steve McClaren's instinct will be to trust in experience.
The England squad trained yesterday in London with a few in their number enjoying a second light session back at their hotel after lunch while the manager considered his options.
A draw would suffice against Croatia to force passage to Austria and Switzerland. In the circumstances, the injury suffered by Michael Owen last Friday has in effect offered McClaren a simple solution to his midfield quandary.
There would have been no comfortable way of accommodating his captain Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, whose confidence has picked up in recent weeks to demand selection, alongside the fit-again Owen Hargreaves in the centre.
The Manchester United midfielder has returned from Carrington recovered, for now, from the tendinitis problem that has dogged him all season.
The manager will be keen to play all three, flanked by Joe Cole on the left and David Beckham on the right, behind a lone striker in Peter Crouch in such a pivotal game. The same midfield quintet played against Portugal in Gelsenkirchen in the World Cup quarter-final defeat last summer.
England have gone full circle.
"Frank is playing really well at the moment and, since he came back from injury, his game has gone up another level," said Cole of his Chelsea team-mate. "When you come back from injury you always do have a bit more freshness. With Frank, you perhaps don't realise just how good he is until he's not there."
Lampard was solid rather than spectacular in Austria last Friday, though it seems logical for McClaren to restore him to midfield with Hargreaves as a shield rather than to pick either Jermain Defoe or Darren Bent.
Neither of the Tottenham forwards has demonstrated sufficient form or consistency to persuade the manager to commit to two forwards in a game he simply cannot lose. England may pursue a victory, but they will be keen to retain some control of midfield to frustrate their group-topping visitors.
McClaren's faith in Paul Robinson for tomorrow's game has been severely tested after a series of errors by the Tottenham goalkeeper in training yesterday morning.
Robinson's slack handling at London Colney suggested he is still suffering from the crisis in confidence that has blighted his campaign.
While Robinson has played every minute of the qualifiers so far, McClaren is now considering playing either Aston Villa's Scott Carson, who won his first cap in Friday's friendly win, or the experienced Portsmouth goalkeeper David James.
