You do not have to be a genius to work out the fate of Steve McClaren. Either he falls on his sword or the blade gets plunged between his shoulder blades by Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick.
With the World Cup finals qualifying draw scheduled for Friday in South Africa, it is inconceivable that the disgraced England manager will be on a plane out of Heathrow to attend the function.
The buck will stop with McClaren and rightly so – although Barwick and FA chairman Geoff Thompson ought to avoid looking in mirrors for a few days because close self-introspection might not be wise for them in the current climate.
The ramifications will be acted out in the corridors of power at Soho Square, but there are far wider implications for English football. Perhaps the shocking debacle at Wembley Stadium against Croatia – a 3-2 loss that kept England out of next year's European Championship finals – will be the reality check that we have been in desperate need of for some time.
When Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Co. are on their sun beds this summer, instead of the pitch at Euro 2008, maybe they will have time to reflect on the fact that the much-vaunted Premier League is nowhere near as good as the English actually think it is.
Reputations have been damaged across the board by the Croats, who were smarter and technically superior and showed a far greater determination to win a game they did not need. There is some genuine doubt as to whether some of those reputations can be salvaged.
Because, quite simply, England was gifted a chance to qualify for next summer's European Championships on a plate by Israel last Saturday, and instead of its big-name players grasping the opportunity with a ruthless flourish, they froze with fear.
None more so than Gerrard, the England captain, who has so often carried his beloved Liverpool on his broad shoulders but was left floundering in the Wembley mud, unable to have any influence on a game of such magnitude.
Ditto with Lampard, who, apart from converting a fortunate penalty kick for England's first goal Wednesday, was incapable of rising to the occasion despite being given the formation that allows him such freedom with Chelsea.
Is this duo really one of the best midfield pairings you could wish for in European football? Or are they simply an overhyped combo that has made us lose all perspective on the real levels of quality in our domestic game.
David Beckham was made to wait until halftime to win his 99th cap and dramatically supplied the cross from which Peter Crouch gave the nation renewed hope. But, surely, that is the end of his England career – despite his claims last week that he still wants to carry on for the World Cup finals in more than two years' time.
Without Rooney, Ferdinand and John Terry, who cut wretched figures as they squirmed in the stands, England was shorn of the three players who conceivably could claim to be good enough to start for any other world team. Michael Owen, the fourth name on that list of absent world stars, also belongs in that category.
Their reputations won't be damaged too much, but the same cannot be said of Scott Carson. The unfortunate goalkeeper set the tone for the evening of disappointment with a dreadful error after only eight minutes to allow Croatia to take a 1-0 lead.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but McClaren never should have decided to blood the 22-year-old in such a tension-ridden fixture. The manager has to accept the blame on this one.
By all means, drop Paul Robinson. But David James should have been the choice in goal, not Carson. The vitriol that will be poured in the direction of the youngster could do irreparable damage for the remainder of his career.
Very few players, ironically apart from Peter Crouch, who so often has been the whipping boy, emerged with their reputations intact, and that is a damning evaluation in itself.
Flawed tactics, an arrogance beyond belief and a total lack of moral fiber were contributory factors in the shambles at the new stadium, and some even had the temerity to suggest the Oct. 28 NFL game did so much damage to the playing surface that it had an effect, too.
That type of blinkered attitude and refusal to accept any portion of the blame for errors made in the past has prevented England from adding to its one major tournament win 41 years ago, the 1966 World Cup.
Maybe now, at long last, it is time for that attitude to change and to realize there is something inherently wrong with our game, even though Sky TV insists ad nauseam that the Premiership is, by head and shoulders, the world's best football league.
Perhaps a summer of inactivity might just be the catalyst finally to end the rhetoric and actually see the FA and English football do something about it. Otherwise, we could be waiting another 41 years.
