World Cup 2010: Surely England can't fall to Croatia in qualifying again?

After their catastrophic failure to qualify for Euro 2008, can Steven Gerrard and Co get it together in time for the next big one?

After the bitter disappointment of failing to qualify for Euro 2008, I am interested to see how England fans gauge their country's chances of making it to the next the 2010 World Cup.

This is perhaps timely in view of the fact that the Group draw has been made and by all accounts England seem to be in an easy passage.

Witness, then, the polls. The first one quite simply asks what England's fate will be in World Cup qualifying. Four options there: They win the group, they finish second and qualify via the play-off, they finish second and fail to qualify, or they finish third or lower. The second poll is much broader and simply asks if England will win a Euro or World Cup in your lifetime (however long that may be).

Obviously there is no way (that I know of) to limit participants to England fans so perhaps this is more of a worldwide forum on the status of the sport in the country that invented it. Which is still interesting. So have a go here!

In the short-term, England have been drawn in a qualifying group with Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra. It could have been worse, as several groups look a lot tougher. France have a very tough draw, for example, with Romania and Serbia, two teams that can match up with anyone, and Lithuania and Austria potential wild cards. But of the nine top-seeded teams England could have been drawn with, Croatia was undoubtedly the worst.

I think England will definitely qualify, possibly even directly as group winners. And long-term? I'm not sure that the influx of foreigners into the Premier League has hurt English football. It has been going downhill for some time (like, since 1966?), nor is this the first time England have failed to qualify for a major tournament. Actually, England's football supremacy was put in doubt before 1966 as well. Witness the following quote:

"That one game alone changed our thinking. We thought we would demolish this team - England at Wembley, we are the masters, they are the pupils. It was absolutely the other way."

Sir Bobby Robson said that in 1953, after England's first defeat at Wembley to a non-British team (Hungary).

It goes to show that lessons in humility are not a new experience in the annals of English football. England have adapted before; 13 years after that historic loss they won their only World Cup on the same field. No reason they can't change with the times again, one would think.