After the disappointment of the 2002 world cup finals, England believed they had a great chance of qualifying for Euro 2004. They struggled to beat Slovakia 2-1 in their opening match and worse was to come as they stumbled to a 2—2 draw against Macedonia at home which put their hold in the group under scrutiny. England suffered a severe defeat against Australia few months later as they collapsed down 3-1 and Jermaine Jenas’s performance was the only bright spot taken out of the match. England regained their form after that as they won eight matches on the trot and qualification was almost certain. England only needed a point in their final match against Turkey to ensure qualification, they came close to conceding on several occasions, however they hung on to draw as the encounter ended 0-0 and they booked their flight to Euro 2004. England’s preparation for Euro 2004 was far from great they lost on two occasions against Scandinavian opposition, 3-2 to Denmark and 1-0 against Sweden. A home 1-1 draw against Japan certainly failed to lift spirits. England put on a great performance against France in their opening football match of Euro 2004; they took a 1-0 lead, however in the final minutes they conceded two late goals and lost the match 2-1. They followed that up by scoring seven goals in the next two matches against Croatia and Switzerland respectively, playing great attacking football. The quarter final match against Portugal was tough, England got off to a flying start with a goal in third minute by Michael Owen. Rooney went off injured for England on the half hour mark and things went sour from then on, after conceding late on, Portugal force the match into extra time and Postiga gave Portugal the lead, with five minutes remaining of extra time, Frank Lampard scored with five minutes remaining and the match was decided on penalties. Once again England suffered heartbreak during the penalty shoot out as David Beckham and Darius Vassell missed their penalties and England were eliminated from the competition.
England’s group for qualification of the 2006 world cup finals seemed straight forward, their opening two matches were billed to be their toughest, after taking a 2-0 lead against Austria, England conceded two goals and their goal keeper, David James was the fall guy. A stunning strike by Jermaine Defoe settled matters for England in Poland. England eased to victories against Northern Ireland, Wales and Azerbaijan and their summer tour in America during 2005 went according to plan. Kieron Richardson made his debut for England against the Americans and scored two stunning strikes, England managed to beat Colombia 3-2 in their following match. Just before the premiership football season of 2005/06 began, disaster struck for England as they were humiliated 4-1 by Denmark. England conceded three poor goals in the second half against a team considered to be much weaker on paper. Everything became even worse for Sven and England in a world cup qualifier at Belfast. England were poor throughout the match and were lucky to go in at half time with the score line level, a late second half strike by David Healey sunk the English and they were lucky not to concede a second shortly after. England followed up their dismal defeat by narrowly beating Austria 1-0 at Old Trafford as Frank Lampard scored the crucial goal. England’s final match of the group against Poland proved to be academic prior to the match, regardless of the result both team were through to the world cup. England beat Poland 2-1 as Frank Lampard volleyed in the winner to top the group.
England played Argentina in a friendly in the following match and it proved to be a classic. Michael Owen scored twice and Rooney also got his name on the score sheet as England beat Argentina 3-2.
England went into the 2006 world cup finals confident of success after 40 years of hurt. Despite their ‘B’ team losing 2-1 to Belarus, Aaron Lennon put on a dazzling performance and provided encouragement for England. A comfortable 3-1 victory over Hungary and a 6-0 thumping against Jamaica with Peter Crouch scoring a great hat-trick placed England as firm favorites for the world cup. England could not reproduce any of their expected form during the finals. They struggled to beat Paraguay 1-0 and many players blamed the hot conditions for their ‘ordinary’ performance. The following match against the world cup’s smallest football nation, Trinidad, was a debacle. England could have been 1-0 down going into half time, if it was not for John Terry’s heroic goal line clearance and it took them 82 minutes to break down Trinidad as Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard scored late on for England. Their following match against Sweden was far from impressive, despite England taking the lead by an incredible Joe Cole volley; they conceded two really poor goals in the second half and drew the match 2-2. David Beckham scored a free kick in the match against Ecuador which England scraped through 1-0 and England were in the quarter finals. A rematch of the quarter final of two years ago against Portugal was heavily built up. The match was hardly a classic; Wayne Rooney was sent off during the second half and no player really came close to scoring during the 90 minutes and extra time period. Ricardo once again proved to be Portugal’s hero as he saved penalties by Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Jamie Carragher. England were out of the 2006 world cup finals and judging by the performances they were lucky to even reach the quarter finals.