The Three Lions has had a perfect campaign so far in the World cup qualification, it almost seems like they will be returning home from Warsaw with all three points but Poland had other ideas, this they executed in the 90+2 mins with Robert Lewandowski cross that found Damian Szymanski who made no mistake nodding the ball into the net.
Harry Kane's breathtaking long-range shot (72) had put the visitors on course to make it six wins from six in Group I, but two minutes into stoppage time, Robert Lewandowski crossed for Damian Szymanski to head in at the back post.
In the first half, England struggled to create clear chances against a rugged and fired-up Polish team, but they were much better after the interval, with Harry Maguire headed against the post before Kane unleashed a magnificent twisting effort from 30 yards.
Kane scored for the 15th consecutive major tournament qualifier, bringing his total to 41 strikes in 64 appearances, putting him in sole possession of fifth place on England's all-time scoring list. But it wasn't enough to stop a Poland team backed by a raucous home crowd at the National Stadium.
With four games remaining, England remains in first place in their group, four points ahead of Albania and favourites to qualify for the Qatar World Cup in the first place, with Andorra and Hungary up next in October.
AS IT STANDS IN GROUP I
TEAMS | NUMBER OF GAMES PLAYED | POINTS |
ENGLAND | 6 | 16 |
ALBANIA | 6 | 12 |
POLAND | 6 | 11 |
HUNGARY | 6 | 10 |
ANDORRA | 6 | 3 |
SAN MARINO | 6 | 0 |
ENGLAND BOSS THOUGHTS AFTER THE GAME
"Overall, we're happy with the results. It was difficult to get control of the game in the first 15-20 minutes. We're playing a proud country with some talented players away from home. I think we started to get a little more control as the half progressed, without ever looking like we were going to create a clear-cut chance.
"But in the second half, I thought we had the game under control. A tremendous strike, a fantastic goal. We certainly didn't generate as many clear-cut opportunities as we'd like, we didn't get as many men in the box as we'd want at times, and there were a number of sloppy moments near the end where we could have allowed a goal, and then we did concede a goal.
"We have every right to be dissatisfied if we just get a point because we shouldn't give up. The players, on the other hand, have been excellent this week, and we're in a great position in the group."
RESULTS FROM OTHER EUROPEAN WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION MATCHES
GROUP B
GREECE 2 SWEDEN 1
KOSOVO O SPAIN 2
GROUP C
ITALY 4 LITHUANIA O
NORTHERN IRELAND 0 SWITZERLAND 0
GROUP E
BELARUS 0 BELGIUM 1
WALES O ESTONIA 0
GROUP I
ALBANIA 5 SAN MARINO 0
HUNGARY 2 ANDORRA 1
POLAND 1 ENGLAND 1
GROUP J
ICELAND 0 GERMANY 4
ARMENIA 1 LIECHTENSTEIN 1
NORTH MACEDONIA O ROMANIA 0
Comments