11 October 2006 - That's Just The Way The Ball Bounces
On 11 October 2006, Croatia defeated England 2-0 in a Euro 2008 qualifier due in part to a freakish English own goal.Played before a crowd of 38,000 at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, it was the third match of the campaign for both sides, with neither yet conceding a goal. Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson was in goal for England, following his strong performance at the 2006 World Cup in which he kept clean sheets in 4 of the 5 matches England played.
The two sides battled to a scoreless stalemate in the first half, with Robinson making a trio of key stops to deny Eduardo, Niko Kranjčar, and Mladen Petric. But Eduardo finally beat Robinson with a 61st-minute header to put Croatia up 1-0. Disaster for England followed shortly afterward.
In the 69th minute, midfielder Gary Neville sent a pass back to Robinson. As the ball rolled tamely toward him, the keeper stepped up to launch it up the pitch. But just as he swung his leg, the ball hit a divot and bounced over Robinson's foot. As Robinson tried to turn, the ball continued rolling, right into the goal.
Croatia went on to win the match 2-0, on their way toward topping the qualifying group. England finished third, one point behind second-place Russia and one spot too low to qualify. Robinson went into international exile, going for over two years until his next England call-up, and retired from the national team in 2010. Oops, perhaps
England had not lost a qualifier by this margin since Holland beat Graham Taylor's team in Rotterdam 13 years ago. Croatia, who have never been beaten in a qualifying tie at home, took the lead when Da Silva got on the end of Niko Kovac's cross to steer a looping header beyond Robinson. It was a miserable night for the England goalkeeper, whose howler led to Croatia's second. The Tottenham man had kept his side in the game with a string of first-half saves but was embarrassed after taking an air-shot as Gary Neville's back pass bobbled past him. Robinson said: "It was an absolute freak and there was nothing I could do about it. It was a routine clearance. "Their keeper had been taking kicks from that spot in the first half and he had left huge divots. I went to kick it and it bobbled. "Someone said I was close to equalling Gordon Banks' record of seven clean sheets, but I'm just glad it was not the freak goal that cost me. I was pleased with the way I'd played before that incident. We can get back on track and I'm still confident of qualifying. We just never do things the easy way." McClaren added: "The person I really feel for is Robinson because until that moment he'd been outstanding. He didn't deserve that. p.s. It wasn't a Paul Robinson own goal! It was a Gary Neville own goal because Robinson didn't actually touch it!
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