EURO 2008 was pretty good wasn’t it? An array of world-class talents strutting their stuff, scoring superlative goals and treating the spectator to some classic matches. Oh, and England weren’t there to f**k it all up on penalties.

It was today in 2007 that the Three Lions’ fate was sealed, when England lost to Croatia on a soggy night at Wembley Stadium.

When Schteve McClaren took over from Sven as England boss his first order of business was to negotiate a not too intimidating Euro 2008 qualifying group that shouldn’t have been too tricky for the World Cup quarter-finalists.

This was not the case, as McClaren’s men flattered to deceive, only putting one goal past FYR Macedonia over two games and losing to Croatia when Paul Robinson swiped at thin air after Gary Neville’s backpass.

A 2-1 loss to Russia in their penultimate game seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for England’s qualification hopes, but Russia’s 2-1 defeat in Israel gave the Three Lions one last chance, as a draw against the Croats would see them qualify.

For reasons that no-one else could fathom, McClaren opted to drop David James for Scott Carson, giving the former Leeds stopper his first taste of competitive action in England’s most important game and in horribly wet conditions.

Needless to say, the gamble backfired. Croatia took an early lead when Nico Kranjcar’s speculative shot slipped through Carson’s hands. Ivica Olic scored a second before half-time and England had yet another mountain to climb.

After half-time McClaren brought on David Beckham, another player that he had unceremoniously dropped and 20 minutes into the second half England were equal - and as things stood, going to Austria and Switzerland the next summer.

Unfortunately, this isn’t where the story ends. Instead of coasting their way to the final whistle Slaven Bilic’s men kept on battling to the end, showing the kind of spirit that McClaren could only dream of.

When Mladen Petric fired the winner in from 25 yards English hearts were broken and we were left with one of English football’s most iconic images of recent years, as McClaren looked on, hopelessly out of his depth under a huge umbrella.

The tabloid press had a field day, with ‘Wally with a Brolly’ headlines a-plenty and royalties for the Rhianna hit ‘Umbrella’ went through the roof once the montage makers got their hands on it. Proving that they did have a smidgen of common sense the FA didn’t waste time getting rid of McClaren, sacking him the morning after.

See the goals from that eventful night below and click here if you want to know what else was going down today.

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