Harry Maguire blasted home late on for England to spare the blushes of his defensive partner John Stones in a 2-1 World Cup Qualifier win over Poland at Wembley on Wednesday.
Stones had been caught in possession to gift Poland an unlikely equaliser through Jakub Moder on 58 minutes, after Harry Kane’s first-half penalty (19) had put England in control.
It was an all-too-familiar error from Stones and looked like being a costly one against an otherwise toothless Poland side, who were badly missing injured Robert Lewandowski.
However, the Manchester City defender was bailed out by his fellow centre-back Maguire, when the Manchester United man thumped in Stones’ knockdown from a corner with five minutes to play.
The win – England’s third in three matches in this qualifying campaign – is an important step towards winning their pool and reaching Qatar 2022 automatically, with Poland seen as their strongest challengers.
With England not involved in another World Cup Qualifier until September, analysis of the performance will also focus on what the display means for Southgate’s side for the Euros this summer – and while Stones’ slip-up will raise questions about the defence, Declan Rice certainly underlined his status as a key man in this side, with Mason Mount also impressing again alongside certainties Kane and Raheem Sterling.
How England pulled off last-gasp win…
Poland famously ended England’s hopes of qualifying for the 1974 World Cup with a 1-1 draw at the old Wembley and the visitors’ current generation – missing their star striker Lewandowski – set up to frustrate Southgate’s side with a back five.
The approach paid off early on, with England limited to a solitary off-target header from Phil Foden in the opening 18 minutes. But a burst of speed from Sterling eventually opened up the Polish defence, with Michal Helik judged to have brought down the forward – although contact appeared minimal.
The Barnsley defender was furious with the decision but Kane seized the chance, smashing his penalty straight down the middle with just his fifth touch of the game to make it two goals in two games.
Sterling should have set up another goal on 27 minutes, when he was played in by Mount but passed straight to Poland’s Kamil Glik when Foden was free for a tap in, before Kane drew a smart stop from former Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
There was a tame Kane header and deflected shot from Sterling as England finished the half on top – although they only managed two shots on target and were regretting not being more incisive soon after the restart.
There were warning signs when Pope almost got into a nasty mix-up with Stones, but escaped with a free-kick, and Maguire got away with handball appeals against him when the ball hit him from a deflection, which VAR, had it been in use, may have seen differently.
But just before the hour mark there was no let-off for Stones as he dallied on the ball. He was dispossessed by Moder who, after a one-two with Arkadiusz Milik, finished smartly.
The Manchester City defender had largely removed those kinds of mistakes from his game this season but the error was reminiscent of the lapse he made against the Netherlands in the 2019 Nations League finals, which cost him his England place – but fortunately for him there was a reprieve.
With England putting on the pressure and Foden and Mount denied by desperate blocks, they finally found the winner on 85 minutes, when Stones rose at the back post to nod a corner down and Maguire blasted in.
Ultimately England escaped with a deserved win – and, after a perfect start to their World Cup Qualifying campaign, they can now turn their attentions to this summer’s European Championships.
What the managers said…
England boss Gareth Southgate: “First half we were very good, controlled the game. A few sloppy passes that invited the counter attack. We knew Poland weren’t going to stop, because they have a very good team and a bit of depth to change the game.
“To concede in the manner we did can really knock you off kilter. But our players really dug in, kept trying to do the right things, trying to probe. We thought long and hard about making a change, but we felt out attacking players were doing well. We managed to resist doing something for the sake of it, and thankfully we came up with the set-play goal.
“We can’t hide from [Stones’] mistake, but it’s easy to fold in those moments, and he didn’t’ He saw the game through with his defending, and was able to have an impact with the winner at the other end, so I think John has come through a lot, and is a much tougher, more resilient character for it.”
Poland boss Paulo Sousa: “In the first half what we missed was our wide players [being too low] but mainly you need to not drop too much which [improved] in the second half. In the second half we were mainly in England’s [half], pressing and from that we scored a goal. Our possession gave us much more dominance. In the first half we conceded some dominance [but] England luckily don’t create problems. They scored two goals from set pieces, it’s something we need to work on.
“All the players came off the pitch sad for the result because we deserved much more for that. We can’t for the match we played, come out without points. but we can keep improving more. At this level we need to have VAR because it helps the referee. We need it in all competitions.”
Match stats
- England have now won each of their last 20 home qualifying matches for the EUROs/World Cup, a run stretching back to October 2012.
- Poland lost for only the third time in their last 26 qualifying matches for the EUROs/World Cup (W19 D4).
- England have only lost one of their 20 international matches against Poland (W12 D7) and are unbeaten in their last 17 against the Poles.
- Harry Kane became England’s all-time leading penalty scorer, netting his 10th penalty for the Three Lions and overtaking Frank Lampard, who scored nine.
- This was Harry Kane’s first international goal for England on a Wednesday, becoming the third Three Lions player to score on all seven days of the week after Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney.
- Jakub Moder’s goal for Poland was the first shot on target England had faced in this World Cup qualifying campaign.
- John Stones registered only his third assist in his 324 senior matches for club and country and his first since January 2020 against Port Vale in an FA Cup tie.
- Harry Kane has been directly involved in 30 goals in 21 EUROs/World Cup qualifying matches (22 goals, 8 assists), scoring at least once in each of his last 12 such appearances, stretching back to October 2017.
What’s next?
England play Austria (June 2) and Romania (June 6) in their Euro 2020 warm-up games, before kicking off the tournament against Croatia at Wembley on June 12 in the group stages.
Gareth Southgate must name his England squad for the tournament by 11pm on June 1, but he is expected to announce it before that date.
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