And England smashed Croatia 5-1 after a terrific display by Aaron Lennon, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. Match highlights in first video below, together with expert panel analysis.

The football action continues to gather pace as I get ready to watch England vs Croatia live online in the World Cup 2010 qualifiers with a lot of recent history behind this fixture adding to the spice of it. Football rivalries for England are traditionally kept to the ones against Germany and Scotland, but their spat with Croatia has kept growing in the leadup to this live streaming football match with key figures from both sides making all the right noises. It all started about 2 years ago during the Euro 2008 qualifiers when England were sensationally denied a place in the finals of that tournament after they lost to the same team on a night of shame in Wembley. The English only needed to avoid defeat to qualify but in the end they could not even get a draw despite coming back from 2-0 down early in the game to level the scores at 2-2 before conceding a late winner. While I felt that credit should have been given to the players to have drawn level, it was really the negative tactics of then manager Steve McClaren who switched to a more defensive stance after his team came back that allowed the Croatians to wrestle back control. It ultimately led to a chorus of boos from the fans at the end of the game while media ridiculed McClaren for his use of an umbrella at the sidelines as the evening rain pelted down on another sorry England display.

Ironically, this time the tables are turned on the Croatians although the scenario remains eeriely similar. England are again on course to qualify for the World Cup finals. One more win and they will not be caught by any other team in the group's only automatic spot. Croatia are mathematically still capable of catching England, but they need to beat them at Wembley, win their remaining games and hope that England will continue to stumble. Failing which they can also settle for second which would send the team into the playoffs. The latter is a gamble and a one off so it is well documented that most teams would not want to go for that if they can avoid doing so. That is where the similarities end as England are now the more confident team since legendary Fabio Capello took over as manager. He has brought back belief to the side and even though the team is still struggling to get use to his sophisticated tactics, they now look more consistent in terms of getting results. Croatia have gone downhill since Euro 2008 and while they are still a force, the results have not been as forthcoming. Personally I suspect that much of it may be due to the manager Slaven Bilic, who seems to overshadow his players' achievements with his own exploits on and off the field.

That has not stopped Bilic from launching his own mind games prior to the game. While many are beginning to wonder if he should let his players do the talking on the field, Bilic has not hesitated to criticising the England team under Capello for losing their 'Englishness', their fighting spirit and that because of that he has discovered a weakness in them that he will exploit during the match. What it is he refused to reveal but you get the feeling that he is only trying to rattle the English and send some nerves rattling, since I still see players like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrarad, not to mention Wayne Rooney, never giving up when the chips are down. Unfortunately that might no longer work as Capello is famous for getting his players to focus fully and such verbal warfare will hardly distract them in any way. Capello had also thanked Bilic sarcastically for the remarks as they would help motivate his players when the two teams meet, without the Italian having to do anything in particular. Bilic has now come out to clarify that his comments were also misunderstood and misrepresented and that he had claimed that England was now a better and more organized team, playing differently from previous incarnations and will only get better when the World Cup arrives. The England team do appear to be quite relaxed and perhaps that underlying confidence stems from their better run of form in the past year. They still look labored against many teams but Capello has stated that if they can cut out the 'sloppiness', then England would stand a very real chance of winning the World Cup, let alone qualifying for it.

One key factor that would be in the favor of England would be Croatia's loss of their midfielder Luka Modric. The Tottenham Hotspur player was ruled out just before the game after his leg was broken in a recent English Premiership match. That stirred up accusations from the Croatian FA that the English clubs were in cahoots to jeopardise their chances of reaching the finals. It was one of the more outlandish remarks in football in recent years and showed the intensity of the rivalry that has developed between the two countries. The reality is that more Croatian players have been snapped up by the English clubs as they are technically accomplished while costing much less than more glamorous stars like Kaka or Ronaldo. It would be interesting to see how Bilic copes with Modric's injury since his absence severely limits his options.

There continues to be media hype about the live football match between England and Croatia and incessant talk about revenge. It could be more to do with the idea of pushing Croatia out of the finals by beating them, since England should have already tasted some revenge after handing out a 4-1 drubbing to the Croats last year in the first meeting during the qualifiers. Back then, Arsenal's Theo Walcott was the star of the show as he ran riot against the opposition defence and scored a hat trick on his full senior debut on the international stage. This time, there will be no Walcott as the Gunner sits out injured. The hopes now rest on Rooney and Defoe, with the latter expected to play some part as a substitute despite his scoring form for Tottenham Hotspur. Capello has stated that he gets more results out of Defoe by sending him on in the second half than starting him. An interesting observation and statement, and you wonder if Defoe would remain motivated by his coach's snub.

I dare not venture a guess on who will win in this England vs Croatia World Cup qualifier because the form book usually gets thrown out of the window in such situations where passion and pride, and no little of desperation and nerves, play a huge part. The atmosphere will be intense, but unlikely to be of the level that we all saw in the Argentina vs Brazil qualifier during the weekend (now that was something wasn't it?). It would be great to see how the two sets of fans react during the live match and how they can cheer their national team on. It was hard to see when England were booed off almost two years ago in the same stadium, but I suspect this time the reactions will be more positive since the World Cup probably needs England around!

Player Name (Club)

• B. Foster (Manchester United)
• R. Green (West Ham)
• P. Robinson (Blackburn)
• G. Johnson (Liverpool)
• W. Brown (Manchester United)
• M. Upson (West Ham)
• J. Terry (Chelsea, capt)
• J. Lescott (Manchester City)
• A. Cole (Chelsea)
• W. Bridge (Manchester City)
• S. Wright-Phillips (Manchester City)
• A. Lennon (Tottenham)
• D. Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy)
• G. Barry (Manchester City)
• F. Lampard (Chelsea)
• M. Carrick (Manchester United)
• S. Gerrard (Liverpool)
• A. Young (Aston Villa)
• L. Milner (Aston Villa)
• W. Rooney (Manchester United)
• E. Heskey (Aston Villa)
• J. Defoe (Tottenham)
• C. Cole (West Ham)
• P. Crouch (Tottenham)

Player Name (Club)

• Stipe Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow) Out injured
• Vedran Runje (RC Lens)
• Danijel Subasic (Hajduk Split)
• Vedran Corluka (Tottenham Hotspur) Suspended
• Josip Simunic (Hoffenheim)
• Ivica Krizanac (Zenit St. Petersburg)
• Dino Drpic (Karlsruher)
• Hrvoje Vejic (Hajduk Split)
• Danijel Pranjic (Bayern Munich)
• Hrvoje Cale (Trabzonspor)
• Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth)
• Ivan Juric (Genoa) Out injured
• Ognjen Vukojevic (Dynamo Kiev)
• Nikola Pokrivac (Salzburg)
• Jerko Leko (Monaco)
• Luka Modric (Tottenham Hotspur) Out injured
• Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk)
• Ivan Rakitic (Schalke)
• Anas Sharbini (Hajduk Split)
• Ivica Olic (Bayern Munich)
• Eduardo da Silva (Arsenal)
• Mladen Petric (Hamburg SV)
• Mario Mandzukic (Dinamo Zagreb)
• Ivan Klasnic (Nantes)