With the odd exception, England fare better than most when it comes to crunch games.
It will be 10 years ago next month that Paul Ince felt sick with anxiety as he prepared to lead his team-mates out into Rome's Olympic Stadium. Less than two hours later he was back in the changing room, celebrating the most glorious goalless draw in England's history with six stitches in his head. "I feel like a black Terry Butcher," Ince said, but the blood-soaked bandage was merely an outward symbol. The pre-match nausea had told him all he needed to know about the special pressures that occur when England face a crunch match in a qualifying tournament.
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