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After a frantic weekend of international football that saw Scottish hearts broken, a glimmer of hope for England and a suprising performance from Northern Ireland, one can only wonder what is the future for british football.

Starting with England. Thanks to a last minute winner for Israel against Russia, England's Euro 08 destiny is firmly in their own hands. A draw in Croatia would be enough to haul them into next summer's championships in Austria and Switzerland. Croatia have nothing to play for, having already secured qualification despite an embarassing defeat to Macedonia. England will therefore start as favourites to qualify, despite a long list of injured players. A victory or draw would be seen as a show of nerve and proof that they deserve their place. There however, lies the rub. Throughout the qualifying campaign, England haven't got out of third gear and are only in such a fortuitous position thanks to a huge slice of luck. Never before have i seen England supporters cheering an Israeli victory. What i'm coming onto is that England don't deserve to go through, and would be qualifying at the expense of Russia, who arguably merit a place in the finals.

After wednesday's game, win or lose, the team have to have a long hard look at themselves, and question what it means to them to put on an England shirt. If they don't, they are setting themselves up for a huge fall, one that will cost the manager his job and the players their reputations.

On the other side of the spectrum are the Scots. After besting world cup finalists France twice across the campaign, they were dumped out at the final hurdle by Italy. In everything they do, they are the complete antithesis of England. They grossly overperformed in what was 'The Group of Death', coming within a couple of minutes of qualification. They have an army of supporters who take more pride in a defeat than the english fans do in a victory, and when the players walk onto the pitch, you can see the passion and desire the players have. They just lacked the only thing that's kept the England campaign alive, copious amounts of luck. Their defeat to Georgia probably cost them qualification.
However, the Scots should take heart from a solid campaign that has seen them lifted to second seeds for the 2010 world cup qualifiers. This should hopefully secure an easier group.
They also have a team who have years ahead of them. Things should continue to get better.

The Northern Irish are another team who have a right future to look forward to. They still retain a mathematical chance of qualification, but that would rely on the double shocks of them beating Spain, and Sweden losing to Latvia. This after a 2-1 win against Danemark marked by David Healy breaking the scoring record for a european qualifying campaign, netting his thirteenth goal. The Irish also have a very young squad, who have brilliant prospects for the years to come.

Finally Wales. After the retirement of Ryan Giggs, the most talented welshman to have stepped onto a football field, the welsh look like a team who are in danger of a bit of a slide. They seem to rely heavily on a few star players. They are currently fourth in their group, with no prospect of qualificaation, and could slip to sixth if results go against them. This would see them propped up only by minnows San Marino, who are yet to score a point.

Learn more about this author, Jon Greengrass.
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