This month’s Euro Championship qualifiers can give England the passport to the finals in France, next year. Roy Hodgson’s Whites have maximum points from six matches and their next outings will be against San Marino and Switzerland.
England have already beaten the Swiss away.
At present, they are heading the standings with 18 points, six ahead of Switzerland. With two nations to qualify for the finals, England need a mere point to make sure they will not be reached by third-placed Slovenia.
The rules for national teams to progress from their respective groups, if two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, are:
1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
2. Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played among the teams in question;
3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question;
4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
5. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings.
If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 apply.
6. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
7. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
8. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
9. Fair Play conduct in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a straight red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a red card); and
10. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system.
England’s remaining fixtures for this year are:
Saturday: Euro qualifier – away vs San Marino.
Tuesday: Euro qualifier – home vs Switzerland.
October 9: Euro qualifier – home vs Estonia.
October 12: Euro qualifier – away vs Lithuania.
Maximum points
Hodgson is rallying his players to go through their Euro qualifying group with a 100 per cent record with four matches still to play.
In the history of the competition England came close to attaining a maximum output on two other occasions.
In their journey to the 1980 finals, England, then under Ron Greenwood, were pitted in a group that also featured Denmark, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Ireland.
The final group statistics for the England national team read: Played 8, Won 7, Drew 1.
England triumphed against Denmark (away) 4-2, Northern Ireland (home) 4-0, Bulgaria (away) 3-0, Denmark (home) 1-0, Northern Ireland (away) 5-1, Bulgaria 2-0 and Ireland (home) 2-0.
The setback came in Dublin in a 1-1 draw against Ireland.
In the 1988 European Championship qualifying group England, managed by Bobby Robson, were paired with Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and Turkey.
The final group statistics for the Three Lions read: Played 6, Won 5, Drew 1.
The Whites triumphed against Northern Ireland (home) 3-0, Yugoslavia (home) 2-0, Northern Ireland (away) 2-0, Turkey (home) 8-0 and Yugoslavia (away) 4-1.
The point dropped was in a 0-0 draw against Turkey, in Izmir.