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Becks won't quit

David Mcdonnell 22/11/2007

BECKS PLAYS ON DESPITE DISASTER ENGLAND 2 CROATIA 3 Qual Group E

David Beckham admitted England could have no excuses for failing to reach Euro 2008 and vowed to carry on playing for his country and win his 100th cap.

Beckham, whose cross for Peter Crouch's equaliser looked to have done enough to clinch England's place at next summer's tournament, earned his 99th cap when he came on as a half-time substitute last night.

"If you don't win games you don't qualify. Tonight was a tough game but playing at Wembley we needed to win and we didn't. We just didn't perform tonight and that's the end of it.

"We were given a second chance but you have to take them. It was handed on a plate to us before the game. So we are disappointed." And the former skipper insisted England's failure did not mean the end of his international career. "I'm not retiring," said Becks.

"I said that the moment I was taken out of the team and the moment I came back into the team. I'm not stepping down."

Beckham revealed the sense of despair in the England dressingroom after Croatia's 3-2 win at Wembley denied the nation a place in a major tournament for the first time since 1994. "We're disappointed as a team and obviously the nation will be disappointed," said Beckham. "There's not much more you can say."

Asked about beleaguered England boss Steve McClaren's future, Beckham said: "I can't answer that. At the end of the day he has been the manager for the duration of this qualifying campaign and results haven't gone our way.

"But the players have stuck up for him and I think people have seen how the players felt about him. It's not the players and team that decide who comes and who goes." Injured England skipper John Terry, who watched from the bench at Wembley, admitted he was "lost for words".

"On behalf of all the players we're hugely disappointed with what's happened this evening," said Terry.

"To come back to 2-2 and be so close was so disappointing, and we take collective responsibility for that.

"There are many things we can look back on over the campaign, but we need time to sit back and reflect on them.

We're disappointed for ourselves, our families and the fans, for everyone in England.

"It's going to be a huge miss without us there at the Euros next summer and I'm just lost for words at the moment. I can't explain the way I feel and the feeling in the dressingroom as well.

"We give our full support to Steve McClaren. We've thoroughly enjoyed working with him.

"But it's not just about Steve, it's about collective responsibility.

We're the ones going out there, performing and not getting the results.

"So all of us have to take responsibility. It's not for Steve to come out here and take it all on his shoulders.

"It's very private what was said in the dressingroom, so I don't want to say too much until things have calmed down a bit."

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard said the failure to reach the Euro finals was his lowest point as an England player.

"It's definitely difficult at the moment," said Gerrard. "It hasn't really sunk in yet.

"It's probably my most disappointing moment in an England shirt so far. It all went wrong for us in the first 10 to 15 minutes.

"Our game-plan was to get at Croatia from the start, and do to them what they did to us.

"The first goal was disappointing from our point of view, but when you're 2-0 down you've got to take risks, which we did.

"There was a big improvement in the second-half, we got back on level terms and we should have shut up shop. We've got to learn when we get back into games like that. We've got to be able to see them out and take the draw.

"But we took risks and got done on the counter-attack. The disappointing thing is that we were almost there.

"We had a mountain to climb and we climbed it. We got back in the game, we were controlling the game, then we conceded the third goal. The manager didn't say much and he didn't need to.

"It was a very disappointed dressing-room, naturally, after a result like that. I don't know what the manager will decide to do.

"It's difficult to comment on the manager after the game but from a player's point of view we have to take the criticism and try to bounce back."

Goalscorer Peter Crouch had words of support for goalkeeper Scott Carson, whose mistakes left England chasing the game.

He said of his Liverpool teammate, who is currently on loan at Aston Villa: "He is a fantastic goalkeeper.

"I think he will be disappointed tonight but he is still a fantastic prospect."

THE 36 PLAYERS WHO FAILED TO GET US THERE

Steve McCLAREN has used 36 players during this qualifying campaign. The list is as follows:

Paul Robinson

Scott Carson

Wes Brown

Gary Neville

Phil Neville

Micah Richards

Wayne Bridge

Ashley Cole

Rio Ferdinand

John Terry

Ledley King

Jamie Carragher

Sol Campbell

Joleon Lescott

Michael Carrick

Steven Gerrard

Frank Lampard

Owen Hargreaves

Jermaine Jenas

Gareth Barry

David Beckham

David Bentley

Scott Parker

Shaun Wright-Phillips

Aaron Lennon

Kieran Richardson

Kieron Dyer

Stewart Downing

Joe Cole

Wayne Rooney

Michael Owen

Jermain Defoe

Peter Crouch

Andy Johnson

David Nugent

Emile Heskey

A DOOMED CAMPAIGN

A European Championship qualifying campaign which started off in fine style, stuttered, then came back to life before finally dying in last night's Wembley nightmare.

September 2, 2006 European Qualifier

ENGLAND 5-0 ANDORRA

Peter Crouch(2), Steven Gerrard, Jermaine Defoe (2)

September 6, 2006 European Qualifier

MACEDONIA 0-1 ENGLAND

Peter Crouch

October 7, 2006 European Qualifier

ENGLAND 0-0 MACEDONIA

October 11, 2006 European Qualifier

CROATIA 2-0 ENGLAND

March 24, 2007 European Qualifier

ISRAEL 0-0 ENGLAND