England
vs
Croatia
England vs Croatia Live Streaming Match
Match scheduled:
Date : September 9, 2009
Time : 19:00 until 21:00 GMT
World Cup 2010 Qualifying Live
England vs Croatia live streams and TV channels
London - England will be hoping to seal their place in next summer's World Cup finals by beating Croatia in their group six qualifier at Wembley on Wednesday.
Fabio Capello's side are well clear at the top of their group after seven wins from seven matches and an eighth victory will ensure they can start looking up their flights to South Africa.
England warmed up for their battle with Croatia by beating Slovenia 2-1 in a friendly on Saturday and though the nature of the win was far from convincing, England's players are focused on the task at hand. 'It would be huge for us to qualify Wednesday - Holland are the only other team to qualify so far (in Europe),' England captain John Terry said this week. 'The quicker we do it the better. 'If we can get there we can really relax and enjoy going into the World Cup.' England were lacklustre against Slovenia and Capello admitted that he will be bucking up his players to ensure there is no repeat of the defeat by Croatia that ruined England's European championship qualifying hopes in 2007
'At the next team meeting, I will try to stop the players sleeping on the job,' the Italian said. 'I have to use my system - and I have a system. I do not shout at them all the time. No, no, no. Sometimes I shout, but after Slovenia, absolutely not. 'I will speak with them and I will explain what I want them to do. And if they want to stay with me, they have to do that, yes. 'At some moments on Saturday I was happy. At some moments I was not so happy because during training we tried some movements that I didn't see on the pitch. 'For this reason I was not happy. The mistake for me is when the players don't make the movements I ask for. But I think they are good learners.' Capello will again be without Rio Ferdinand, who is injured, so Matthew Upson is again likely to deputise. Jermain Defoe is pushing for a starting place in attack instead of Emile Heskey after another impressive performance, coming off the bench to score against Slovenia. David Beckham could start on the right side of midfield but otherwise the team is likely to be largely unchanged. Croatia coach Slaven Bilic, who was hailed as a hero when his side won in England in 2007, said his men were better suited to playing away. 'For some inexplicable reason we often lose concentration at home,' he said. 'We quickly become nervous and it is easy to detect. If, after 20 minutes, we do not take the lead or if the opponents have two consecutive corner kicks, we are nervous. 'Our crowd is great, but sometimes their passion doesn't always help. If we don't score a goal or our opponents keep the ball even for a minute, or have a chance or even a corner, the fans start to panic and this gets to the players. 
“There's a load of players in that dressing-room who won't forget that night at Wembley,” he said. "It was the lowest point of my career; being on the verge of a major championships and then it’s taken away from you.
“It was just a disastrous dull night. There'll be a few memories but it's a different manager and a different team and, although it will be in the back of our minds, we'll be confident. We've come a long way since then. This is England we're talking about and we need to be part of the big tournaments.”
Nine of England’s current 24-man squad played in that Croatia match back in 2007, but considerable belief can be taken from England’s faultless World Cup campaign, particularly the 4-1 win in Zagreb. According to Barry, collective discipline will be imperative on Wednesday.
"We found out there that they'll fire into challenges but we'll talk about keeping our heads because keeping 11 players on the pitch is definitely going to help,” he said.
"Although they went to 10 men, we played some of the best football we've played under this manager. Discipline was a massive thing. We kept our shape in a hostile atmosphere. Discipline will be big again on Wednesday.”
And, ahead of a fourth crunch match with Croatia in less than three years, is there now any needle between the teams?
“There are memories from two years ago, so it's something we all want to put right,” said Barry. "The pressure will be on them this time. They know we can qualify.”
