Gerrard backs McClaren even if England misses out

WATFORD, England: England's stand-in skipper Steven Gerrard said on Wednesday that head coach Steve McClaren should remain in his job even if England fails to qualify for next year's European Championship.

Gerrard, who will captain the team in the absence of the injured John Terry in Friday's friendly international against Austria in Vienna and probably in England's last Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia next week, told reporters he believed McClaren was still the right man for the job.

"Whether we qualify or not, he is still the best manager for England," said Gerrard.

"He is a top coach with the right credentials and I don't see the point of changing your manager every six months or every year.

"We have a good young squad and the players have to take responsibility if we do not qualify for the finals.

"We had five 3-0 wins in a row in the qualifiers, and the team has been moving in the right direction apart from a few mad minutes against Russia when we lost."

As a result of that 2-1 loss in Moscow last month, England's fate is now out of its own hands.

Group E leader Croatia will seal its almost-certain place in the finals if it takes at least a point from its match against Macedonia on Saturday while Russia will effectively seal its place if it beats Israel in Tel Aviv on Saturday because a win over tiny Andorra in its final match is virtually certain.

Croatia leads the standings with 26 points and two matches to play, followed by England on 23 with one match to play and Russia on 21.

England can still qualify if Russia fails to win its two final matches and England beats Croatia next week, but the odds are stacked against it.

Striker Michael Owen told reporters that the players were naturally hoping that either Croatia or Russia slip up in their final games, and backed Gerrard's support for McClaren.

"There has been a lot of support for the manager," Owen added.

"He is popular amongst the players and everyone knows he is a very good coach. There is no hiding the fact we should be qualifying out of this group.

"We let too many points slip early on against Macedonia at home and Israel away and that's why we struggled in this group.

"But the other teams still have two games to play and we can reflect on (where it went wrong) afterwards if we have not qualified.

Agencies

(China Daily 11/16/2007 page23)