Croatia's dream start is England's nightmare

Portugal, Turkey, Sweden and Russia secured places at Euro 2008, but England will not be in Austria and Switzerland next summer.

Steve McClaren's side required only a point from their home clash with Croatia, but were unable to get it, losing 3-2 on a wet night in London.

That result, coupled with Russia's 1-0 win in Andorra, saw Guus Hiddink's men advance from Group E.

England got off to a nightmarish start as 'keeper Scott Carson allowed a long-range strike from Niko Kranjcar to slip through his grasp after eight minutes. It was 2-0 six minutes later as Ivica Olic skipped through to put already-qualified Croatia in firm control.

England launched a stirring comeback after the break and drew level thanks to a Frank Lampard penalty and a close-range volley from Peter Crouch.

But Croatia restored its advantage with what turned out to be the winner with 13 minutes to go as substitute Mladen Petric fired home from 20 yards.

England's slip-up allowed Russia to squeeze through, with Dmitri Sychev netting the winner six minutes before halftime.

Israel finished its campaign with a 1-0 win over FYR Macedonia in Tel Aviv.

Portugal secured the point it needed with a goalless draw against Finland to advance to the finals.

Failure to win in Porto eliminated the Finns and also Serbia, which drew 2-2 at home to Group A winner Poland.

The visitors took a two-goal lead thanks to strikes from midfielder Rafal Murawski and forward Radoslaw Matusiak. But Serbia strikers Nikola Zigic and Danko Lazovic scored within two minutes of each other to complete a fine comeback.

Also in Group A, Belgium won 1-0 in Azerbaijan and Armenia lost 1-0 at home to Kazakhstan.

Sweden went into the final round of Group F needing only a point at home to Latvia and ended up with three thanks to a 2-1 win.

Marcus Allback opened the scoring within a minute of kickoff, but Swedish hearts were in mouths when Juris Laizans equalized after 26 minutes. Kim Kallstrom re-established the lead just short of the hour mark.

That result meant Northern Ireland could not qualify and it finished with a 1-0 defeat in Spain, with Xavi grabbing the winner.

In the same pool, Denmark beat Iceland 3-0.

Turkey secured its place in Euro 2008 after Nihat Kahveci's first-half goal gave it a 1-0 win over stubborn Bosnia-Herzegovina and second place in Group C at Norway's expense.

Norway won 4-1 against Malta, while Greece, which had secured top spot in Group C, finished with a 2-1 win in Hungary.