Croatia dashes England's hopes

England will miss next year's European Championship in a huge embarrassment to the nation that invented modern soccer.

Needing only a tie at home in its final qualifier, England allowed two quick goals, rallied with an equalizer off David Beckham's cross and then lost to Croatia 3-2 Wednesday night in Wembley, England.

"We just didn't perform tonight, and that's the end of it," said Beckham, who made his 99th international appearance.

It's the first major tournament England will miss since the 1994 World Cup, and is likely to lead to the departure of Coach Steve McClaren, who benched Beckham for the first half and started relatively untested goalkeeper Scott Carson, whose blunder on his first touch led to the game's first goal.

McClaren, much criticized since replacing Sven-Goran Eriksson in August 2006, is unlikely to stay on. Graham Taylor quit six days after England failed to qualify for the '94 World Cup.

Beckham, too, hopes to be around for the 2010 World Cup. McClaren dropped him last year, then brought back the 32-year-old midfielder.

"I'm not retiring," Beckham said. "I have always said that from the moment I was taken out of the team and the moment I came back into the team. I'm not stepping down."

Russia (7-2-3), in a game played simultaneously, won 1-0 at Andorra on Dmitry Sychev's goal in the 39th minute to climb one point ahead of the English (7-3-2) and finish second to Croatia (9-1-2) in Group E.

The English, whose qualification chances dwindled when they wasted a second-half lead and lost at Russia last month, had been given new hope when Russia was beaten at Israel last weekend. But playing against a team that already clinched a berth in the 16-nation field, England failed to take advantage.

"We've felt we'd been given that second chance, and you have to take them when they're given to you," Beckham said.