England stars betray tension

By Jonathan Legard
BBC football correspondent in Vienna

McClaren faces an uncertain future if England fail to qualify

Once it was the dentist's chair, that ill conceived Hong Kong drinking game before Euro 96. Now it's like the dentist's waiting room.

England's footballers find themselves hoping for the best but fearing the worst this weekend, walking on eggshells when they should have been strutting in confidence in the Ernst Happel Stadium.

What looked a smart piece of FA planning - a friendly leg stretch on the same stage as next summer's Euro 2008 final - now seems like a cruel hoax, barring favourable results involving Israel and Macedonia.

Steve McClaren sported his best teeth-white smile as he played up the positives again in Vienna on Thursday night.

But there were precious few grins from Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen when they contemplated England's prospects of reaching the championship finals next June.

Training may have been light and bright, brimming with trademark energy and enthusiasm but it was heavy going without the bibs, the balls and the cones.

We have to believe it's not over Michael Owen

Both still looked haunted by flashbacks from those "few mad minutes" at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium last month which could have sealed England's fate.

Both would far rather be watching Strictly Come Dancing or X Factor on Saturday night than the stomach-churning drama from Tel Aviv.

Despite his best efforts, you could hear the resignation in Gerrard's voice as he maintained how much Israel's young players would want to impress Premier League scouts in the match against Russia.

"Yossi (Benayoun) tells me they're really keen to do well. They won't make it easy. It's a tough place to play," he said.

The unspoken truth was that much of Gerrard's faith in Israel's ability to be an ally to England had unravelled when his Liverpool team-mate got injured at the weekend.

Remember that Gerrard, above all England players, needs no lessons about rescuing seemingly lost causes after his heroics with Liverpool in the European Cup final two years ago.

Owen (left) and Gerrard have both backed the under-fire McClaren

Unlike Istanbul, however, England's fortunes are out of his hands, and this game in Austria is, at best, academic.

Declarations of loyalty to the coach and the cause are only to be expected but will surely count for little within Soho Square if England fail to qualify.

Perhaps these phoney few days are when McClaren's trusted lieutenant Bill Beswick earns his money.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail and all that, no matter how meaningless the circumstances, however forlorn the hopes.

Prompted or otherwise by any in-house briefings, Michael Owen displayed his striker's instincts when discussing half chances.

"We have to believe it's not over. If someone did us a favour and we weren't in the right frame of mind to take advantage on Wednesday, it would be criminal," he said.

But there's the rub.

606: DEBATE Steve McClaren should be sacked - even if England do not fail to reach Euro 2008 CFC_JMarelikeUS_Bush

Which would cut more deeply into McClaren's hopes of retaining his job?

Watching Russia trounce Israel and Croatia qualify, to leave Wednesday's game at Wembley as little more than a wake?

Or to have Israel breathe new life into England's campaign only for Slaven Bilic's resolute band to snuff out the flame in front of a baying home crowd, just as Sir Alf Ramsey suffered against Poland in 1973?

In his current position, out in the cold - not merely because of the snow showers in Vienna - McClaren must feel any chance is better than no chance.