England's superstar players have admitted they can scarcely bear to contemplate the humiliating prospect of spending next summer home alone while their continental European counterparts strut their stuff at Euro 2008.
That is the painful reality facing Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and co. after their 2-1 defeat by Russia in Moscow on Wednesday evening -- and there is no doubting that it hurts.
Russia will qualify ahead of England if they beat Israel and Andorra in their final two matches in group E and a disbelieving Gerrard admitted: "I can't believe it's out of our hands now.
"We've worked so hard over the last five or six months to put ourselves in the driving seat and make us favourites to go through.
"When we're 1-0 up we started to believe we were nearly there and had one foot there. But football is a cruel game, and chances, decisions and mistakes change football matches.
"It's unthinkable to have a European Championship finals without England, but as players we've got to take responsibility."
The prospect of missing out on Euro 2008 is particularly harsh on Gerrard who has produced some outstanding performances in the qualifying tournament, including a two-goal show against Andorra when England were at their lowest ebb.
But he played a part in their defeat in Moscow when, with the score still 1-0, he missed a glorious chance to wrap up victory.
The Liverpool midfielder was completely unmarked 10 yards from goal after Russia inexplicably allowed a free-kick to reach him -- but struck his effort wide of the left-hand post.
"We were in control, we were 1-0 up and the game-plan was working perfectly," said the Liverpool captain.
"I had a great chance to make it 2-0 myself and then we had a mad five or 10 minutes when the game changed in their favour.
"The chance was one of them where I didn't expect to have so much time and seemed to be waiting for an eternity for it to come down. I tried to get as much contact on it as possible, but it wasn't to be. I'm disappointed with the chance."
England's hopes of victory turned on the decision of referee Luis Medina Cantalejo who punished Rooney for a needlessly pulling back Konstantin Zyryanov, even though the challenge looked to be outside the area.
"We were hard done by with the penalty," insisted Gerrard. "Wayne tells us it was out of the box and it looked outside the box. The linesman didn't give it. The referee seemed to overrule the linesman and gave a penalty that wasn't.
"Obviously the lads were very down and it gave them a lot of confidence. We were in control until then and the penalty decision turned the whole game. But even so we should have been stronger and seen the game out."
Rooney added: "Two lapses of concentration have cost us the game - I think their penalty might have been outside (the penalty box), but the referee has given it.
"We're all very disappointed but we have to hope Israel can help us out."
The despair in the England camp was mirrored by the jubilation of the Russian players, particularly two-goal striker Roman Pavlyuchenko.
"I'm happy we have brought some joy to our fans, they really deserved it," Pavlyuchenko said. "The fans were unbelievable! They were really driving us forward. Truly they were the 12th player on the pitch."
"Now we can decide our fate ourselves. We need to win both remaining matches to get a pass to the 2008 Euro finals and I believe we can do it."
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