Graphic: Rooney's moment of madness

The retreat from Moscow will be long and it will be bitter. England are not out of the European Championship this morning, Steve McClaren is not out of a job. Both events, however, would appear to be a matter of time.

Qualification is in Russia’s hands. The fact is that if Guus Hiddink can deliver a win against Israel in Tel Aviv next month, the certainty of an away victory against Andorra on November 21 is all that will be required to progress at England’s expense.

The England head coach can pray for salvation in the form of an Israeli rearguard action, but that will still leave England needing to beat Croatia at Wembley and, after this, few will be brimming with confidence at the thought of that task.

For the second time in this blighted campaign, England have wilted under pressure on the road. McClaren talked up the capacity of his team to perform with its back to the wall, but results away to the toughest group opponents do not support such easy platitudes. Visits to Israel, Croatia and Russia have yielded one point in nine. Like most bullies, England are not so brave when the battle is beyond home turf.

They fell apart here, as they did in Croatia, from a position of strength. In Zagreb, a match that was heading for a goalless draw turned turtle when a soft header caught Paul Robinson off his line. In Moscow, looking set fair for victory, thanks to a stunning goal from Wayne Rooney and resolute defending from a makeshift back four, England crumbled to defeat in four panic-stricken minutes. A calamitous and naive foul by Rooney on Konstantin Zyrianov brought Russia back into the game from the penalty spot and from there England lost all composure at the back. When Robinson pushed a shot by Alexei Berezutsky out and forwards, rather than wide and round, Roman Pavlyuchenko, on as a substitute, was quickest to react. It was as if all the air had escaped from England and their head coach then, left on the plastic pitch like a deflated balloon.

The turning point was the 50th minute, when a free kick by Gareth Barry was allowed to float over a crowded penalty area, to fall at the feet of Steven Gerrard, unmarked by the far post. This was it. This was the chance of the match, the chance to end the campaign with a goal that would put the outcome of the group beyond dispute. Best of all, it was dropping for McClaren’s talisman, the man the head coach has built his team around since a horrid night in Barcelo-na when Gerrard saved his bacon.

Instead, the Liverpool man put McClaren’s backside in the slicer. His finish was woeful, failing even to force a save from Vladimir Gabulov, the Russia goalkeeper. And gradually, from there, as Hiddink took the attacking initiative and McClaren failed to react, England’s grip on a place in the finals was loosened, finger by finger.

McClaren, after the match, was lame. Looking like a man grappling with the immensity of his situation – it appeared to be dawning on him that he was on the brink of becoming the first England manager since Graham Taylor to miss out on a leading tournament – he offered the most tired excuse of them all.

A dodgy decision. Rooney’s foul was outside the area, according to the head coach. Big deal. Rooney also looked a shade offside when he took the ball on his chest from a header by Michael Owen to volley England’s opener. These things happen and what matters is how a team and a coach react to the change in fortune.

Hiddink, outmanoeuvred at Wembley, was the intellectual victor last night. What McClaren failed to acknowledge was that Russia’s first goal left England in the box seat; a draw was enough here. It was the second that was the killer and he had no convenient scapegoat for that. At that moment, groping for answers, he looked small and inadequate for the task.

Hiddink, by comparison, was at his preening, crowing best, explaining his first victory over English opposition in terms of a tactical triumph. He added that he told his players at half-time that one goal would bring two. For a bloke who so often fails to deliver against England, he knows us so well.

In the build-up, McClaren talked as if England had cornered the market in clear-thinking, yet the specialist field in recent years has been panic. Equal-ise and the game is yours. It happened against Brazil in 2002 and France in 2004, but by way of mitigation at least those opponents possessed world-class players, capable of instilling fear.

Quite why England panicked faced with opposition that had succumbed 3-0 at Wembley a matter of weeks before is a mystery. Yet once Pavlyuchenko had scored from the spot, every Russia breakaway brought terror. A defence that had looked so sturdy, even without John Terry, the captain, and Ashley Cole, at left back, was suddenly flustered and skittish.

Micah Richards, a rock, then looked his age, as did Joleon Lescott. The idea of relying on the defensive qualities of Joe Cole as Hiddink doubled up on his flank also appeared hopelessly flawed, much like the decision not to thicken the midfield with two holding players in front of the back four as Hiddink upped the ante. McClaren was out-thought and his players outwitted. From a position of safety, England again played into opposition hands, right down to the 4-4-2 formation, which Hiddink delights in unpicking.

McClaren pointed out that the campaign lasted 12 games not 11 – and, anyway, Russia have played only ten – but the inquest is beginning. The buck will stop with the head coach and rightly so and too many of his theories did not work yesterday for there to be any sense him continuing if Russia’s remaining games confirm England’s premature ejection.

He will pay a high price – and at a time when the strength of the Barclays Premier League should render such a failure unthinkable – but it would be hypocritical for the majority to judge him too harshly over this result. In Moscow, he gave the nation precisely what it wanted: 4-4-2, the same team that played last month barring injuries, Gerrard in the middle of the park and the hated Frank Lampard on the bench. Turns out it is not as easy as that. Turns out it never will be.