So, as the dust settles over England’s crappy defeat on Moscow’s glassy carpet of ice, we’re left to ponder the circumstances required for England to take part in the Euro 2008 finals (where further disappointment almost certainly awaits.)

The crunch match comes on November 17 th when Russia must beat Israel to almost certainly knock England out of any contention. The thought that the Russians won’t steamroller over the feckless Andorra a few days later isn’t worth thinking about.

Here comes the complicated bit. As we all know, the shadow of Roman Abramovich looms very large over Russian football, with the billionaire reportedly paying half of the national coach Guus Hiddink’s wages.

But, the Chelsea owner also has strong links with Israel. He sponsored a friendly tournament there earlier this year, which involved Israeli, Russian and Ukrainian club sides, even missing the second leg of Chelsea’s Carling Cup semi-final in order to be at the tournament. Then of course there’s the small matter of Israel’s former national coach being currently in charge of team affairs at Stamford Bridge.

Surely the Israelis don’t plan to lie down next month and allow Abramovich to get his way? We’ll certainly all be watching closely, but ultimately, if England hadn’t been such a crock of shite on Wednesday afternoon or so god awful against Macedonia 13 months ago, then there’d have been nothing to worry about. Nevertheless, COME ON ISRAEL!

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