England just need a draw at home to Croatia to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals after Israel did them a huge favour by beating Russia 2-1 in Tel Aviv.
Russia started the game brightly, knowing that they needed a win to stay on track for qualification for next year's finals.
However, the visitors were rocked in the tenth minute as a neat through ball from Barak Itzhaki split their defence wide open and Elyaniv Barda slipped an expert finish over the advancing Vladimir Gabulov.
Russia hit back with Diniyar Bilyaletdinov twice shooting narrowly wide from just outside the area.
However, with 21 minutes on the clock a deep free-kick to the back post caused chaos in the Russian defence, but Itzhaki headed wide from point-blank range.
Russia coach Guus Hiddink made a change on the half-hour, replacing Igor Semshov with Dmitriy Torbinskiy.
However, the away side still struggled to carve out any real chances, with Alexander Anyukov's shot into the sidenetting from a tight angle on the right their best effort before the interval.
Russia upped the pace after the restart and shortly before the hour Dmitry Sychev made a break down the right and pulled the ball back to Bilyaletdinov, but he shot straight at Aouate from 15 yards out.
However, soon after that it was 1-1, as a neat build-up ended with Bilyaletdinov having the chance to smash the ball home under the advancing Aouate.
Russia then pushed on looking for a winner that would leave England in jeopardy, with Sychev flashing a 30-yard drive narrowly wide of goal with Aouate beaten 17 minutes from time.
Sychev then thought he had sealed the victory, but his low shot clipped the outside of the post after rolling past Aouate.
There was still time left for Israel to twist the knife as sub Omar Golan broke the offside trap to drive his shot past Gabulov and win the game for the home side.