Dismiss England's Chances at Euro 2012 At Your Peril

It was always expected that Fabio Capello’s team of perennial under performers would qualify for Euro 2012. Suffering England fans that watched this tense encounter in Podgorica would probably not be exactly rushing to their local Waitrose to purchase cases of Cava to celebrate – it was far from a champagne performance.

Indeed the likes of Spain, Holland and Germany will not be resorting to whiskey and Valium at the prospect of England competing in Poland and Ukraine next summer.

The outcome of the match would have been so different if England had performed in the same positive fashion as they did in the first half hour against a Montenegro side who were enthusiastic but nevertheless limited.

England deserved their lead via a brace of goals scored courtesy of the wonderfully inform Ashley Young, and Darren Bent, who partnered Wayne Rooney upfront. England was literally strolling towards qualification with a spring in their step and plenty to spare.

However, it was this hubris that allowed Montenegro back in the game through Elsad Zverotic who halved the deficit at the conclusion of the first half. Still with only 17 minutes remaining England seem to have secured a comfortable victory. It was Rooney’s inexplicable reaction to a collision with an opposition defender that blighted his and England’s evening in the City Stadium. In the end Montenegro deserved their injury time equaliser from Andrija Delibasic that sent his team into the 2012 Euro play-offs.

The post-mortem will inevitably focus on Rooney’s red card and arguably rightly so. But people should be reminded that England never lost a qualifying game and away from Wembley they put in some very commendable performances.

England go into this summer’s tournament with low expectation, which is not a bad thing. England traditionally play better against top sides and there will be plenty of them at the Euros.

More compellingly, with Fabio Capello leaving the job after the Championship and with the Italian having several points to prove after the debacle of the World Cup in South Africa, don’t be too startled that with or without their talisman Rooney, Capello and England maybe the surprise package of the tournament. On second thoughts you may want to put the Cava on ice.