England stands on the brink of elimination from European Championship qualifying, but Russia still needs to come away from Israel with a win on Saturday. Regardless, Russia coach Guus Hiddink says that Steve McClaren’s Lions don’t deserve to qualify for the finals in Austria and Switzerland. “If we analyze this group and the teams, then England do not deserve to qualify,” the Dutch tactician told reporters. “You judge success as to who qualifies. If we finish above England, then no one can say we don’t deserve it. It was not a freak or one off. We have been through so much in this group as a country that it would be impossible for us to fail against Israel.”
The British press, meanwhile, is already preparing for the worst. Most pundits feel that failure to qualify would result in the immediate dismissal of McClaren, but England stalwarts Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen were quick to rush to his defense.
“There’s no point changing managers every year, you need continuity,” Gerrard said. “We’ve been moving forward in the right direction and results have been positive.” Indeed, after a stuttering start to qualifying, England has won five of its last six qualifiers, which Owen claims is evidence enough that England should stick with McClaren. “Every player you’d ask would back the manager,” the Newcastle striker said. “He’s the right man for the job. There’s no doubt we had some sticky results at the start of the campaign but certainly in the last half-dozen games there’s been a massive improvement.”