London -- Croatia knocked England out of the Euro 2008 soccer championships with a stunning 3-2 victory Wednesday at London's Wembley Stadium.

Mladen Petric scored the game-winning goal in the 77th minute.

The Croatians join Russia, Turkey, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal in next year's event.

The English team, after losing to Israel Saturday, needed a draw against Croatia to advance to the matches next summer. But the surprising defeat, coupled with Russia's 1-0 win against Andorra, means England will miss a major soccer event for the first time since the 1994 World Cup.

Croatia jumped to a 2-0 lead in the opening 15 minutes on goals by Niko Kranjcar and Ivica Olic. England battled back and knotted the score at 2-2 on a penalty shot by Frank Lampard and a goal by Peter Crouch before Petric crushed England's hopes with his winning goal.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.