Poland – England 17.10.2012

Poland go into this game high on confidence after taking four points from first two qualifiers, but England are also in optimistic mood having recorded a 5-0 win over San Marino on Friday.

Having invested a lot of time and effort into preparing the national team for the Euro 2012 they hosted together with their Ukraine counterparts, nobody was surprised to see Poland chiefs sack coach Franciszek Smuda after his side took just two points from the easiest group imaginable at tournament finals. However, there is every chance the national team officials will have only themselves to blame if the White Eagles again fail, seeing they opted to appoint another unproven coach in Waldemar Fornalik. While the team looked pretty good up front against Montenegro and Moldova, the back line have experienced far too many problems in those matches, as well as in the friendly win over South Africa, even though the results would suggest otherwise. With team’s most influential player Jakub Blaszczykowski missing through injury, the hosts will struggle to break England’s rock-solid defence, while nobody really believes Polish leaky defence can keep a clean sheet in this match.

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I have to admit I was disappointed to see Roy Hodgson being appointed England manager, but the fact is the former Liverpool boss has proved me and all other doubters wrong. He was the first coach to finally patch up the leaky defence, while the most important thing is that the attack never stopped scoring. Having proved their worth with some very good showings at Euro 2012, England enjoyed a bright start to the World Cup qualifiers and they are now expected to continue the good run against Poland.

The return of Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick has really improved the quality of the side and with all important players rested against San Marino, the Three Lions can be trusted to bring all three points from Warsaw.