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England, one of the most popular football team in Europe is out of the Euro 2008 in a shocking way. The nation that invented modern soccer, which plays at a stadium that styles itself as "the venue of legends," had failed to qualify for next year's European Championship.

Needing only a draw at home in its final qualifier, England go down 2-3 by Croatia. England allowed two quick goals, then rallied in the second half, getting an equalizer off David Beckham's cross to Peter Crouch. But Mladen Petric scored in the 77th minute, giving Croatia a 3-2 victory on Wednesday night that prompted a new round of soul-searching for soccer's Mother Country.

Beckham, Gerrard, Michael Owen, John Terry, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard are all described as the best players of their generation. But they fell short over a 15-month qualifying campaign.

McClaren started with goalkeeper Scott Carson - in just his second international appearance - in place of regular No. 1 Paul Robinson, who didn't even dress. Carson's blunder on his first touch led to Croatia's first goal. McClaren also forced Beckham on the bench for the first half.

It's the first major tournament England will miss since the 1994 World Cup _ England last missed the Euros in 1984 _ and is likely to lead to the departure of McClaren, much criticized since he replaced Sven-Goran Eriksson.

"No, I'm not stepping down," said McClaren. "Ultimately I take responsibility and I accept that. It is my job to get us qualified and I failed to do that. I don't want to discuss my future."

Beckham said, "We all know there are more important things than football in the world, but for us not to qualify for a competition it's a huge, huge thing."

"It's going to hurt for a long time," England midfielder Steven Gerrard said.

The board of the Football Association (FA), the sport's governing body in England, has called an emergency meeting for 8:30 am (0830 GMT), with McClaren expected to be sacked.

Bookmakers made former Chelsea boss Mourinho, Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill and Portugal boss Luis Felipe Scolari among the front runners to take over from McClaren.