England’s recent victories over Estonia 2-0 at Wembley and Lithuania 3-0 in Vilnius completed the perfect 10 wins from 10 matches in their Euro 2016 qualifying group to earn them a place in the exclusive perfect campaign club along with France, Czech Republic, Germany and Spain.Harry Kane and Ross Barkley starred as England dismantled Lithuania to finish top of group E with a maximum of 30 points, 9 ahead of second placed Switzerland. They scored 31 goals and conceded only 3 to earn a place in next year's finals.
France has twice finished a campaign with a 100% record. After failing to qualify for Euro 88, despite being the holders, Platini returned to the fore as coach and guided them to top of their qualifying group for Euro 1992 with 8 wins out of 8. He had captained them to victory on home soil in Euro 84, scoring 9 goals and one in the 2-0 victory over Spain in the final.
Again in Euro 2004 qualifying, with stars such as Zidane and Thierry Henry, the French won all 8 groups matches after a disastrous World cup. They also topped their group in the finals, beating England and an 18 year old Wayne Rooney before succumbing to eventual winners Greece in the last eight.
Bronze medallists at 2010 World cup in Africa, Germany, under Joachim Low won all their qualifying matches for Euro 2012, including a 6-2 mauling of neighbours Austria. As expected they started the tournament as favourites alongside Spain but were knocked out by a wonderful and rare performance by Mario Balotelli.
It was no surprise that the all conquering Spanish joined the exclusive club during the same Euro 2012 qualifiers. They had proved their ability winning the Euro 2008 tournament with Fernando Torres netting the only goal against the Germans in the final. This was followed up in South Africa as Iniesta’s extra time goal won the country's first ever World cup with a 1-0 victory of Netherlands.Is the 100% record a good sign? Maybe not, Fabio Capello’s England team almost qualified for 2010 World cup with a similar record. They lost the penultimate game 1-0 to Ukraine, finishing top of group 6 with 9 wins out of 10. And yet at the World cup finals in South Africa they were a shambles, albeit Lampard had a perfect goal disallowed as we went out to the Germans.
England pipped Ukraine to qualify for 2014 World cup, remaining undefeated in group H, winning 6 and drawing 4. It gave the English fans and media false belief and we failed to get out of the group stage where Costa Rica, of all teams, came top. This unbeaten feat was matched during Euro 2012 qualifying, with England winning 5 and drawing 3 in the 8 games. Despite qualifying Capello resigned when the FA took away the captaincy from John Terry.
It is great that the national team has become part of this exclusive club, however, it could be problematic or even a bad omen, giving the squad and Roy Hodgson false confidence and once again we fall short where it matters most.
Saying that, it is a good record to have and surely the players still have the failure of Brazil 2014 in the back of their minds, where we got 1 point and an early flight home. We will be joined by Northern Ireland and Wales and possibly the Republic of Ireland if they can overcome Bosnia.England along with hosts France, holders Spain, Germany, Portugal and Belgium, are one of the top seeds when the draw is made on 12 December in Paris10, lets just hope they don’t draw Wales or the Irish and we take our qualifying form into the finals and Rooney gets his hands on the trophy.
Source: DSG
