The England team’s official Twitter account used a surprising word to wrap up the first triple-header of qualifying matches for FIFA World Cup 2022. England snared the maximum nine points out of nine from their matches against San Marino, Albania and Poland, but the word ‘perfect’ shouldn’t be anywhere near the final analysis of the opening week in Group I.
One might be more inclined towards lenience if England had achieved some measure of perfection – three clean sheets, for example, would be a version of perfection worth acknowledging after 270 minutes of football – but neither the performances nor the defensive record were free of blemishes.
Indeed, Jakub Moder’s equalising strike in Poland’s visit to Wembley in the third qualifier was both the goal that blotted England’s defensive copybook and the catalyst for a response that eventually came good but raised more questions than it answered about the home side’s mentality and approach.
England manager Gareth Southgate started with a line-up that we can expect to have significant overlap with the team that starts UEFA EURO 2020 against Croatia in June, and the first half showed promise.
Declan Rice was dynamic in midfield, formidable in front of England’s back four and confident, progressive and effective on the ball. His partnership with Kalvin Phillips is developing by the minute.
Mason Mount caught the eye again as England sought to plot a path through Poland’s defensive structure and Raheem Sterling paired frequent brilliance with a sometimes sloppy first touch and a proclivity for getting caught on the ball with his back to goal.
Poland didn’t have a sniff in the first half and it was Sterling who made England’s opening goal.
Just as he had in Albania, the Manchester City winger profited from the team’s determined pressing in the attacking third. This time he set about the defence with an electrifying run to the byline, where he was upended by a combination of Michal Helik’s clumsy challenge and his own desire for a penalty.
Captain Harry Kane did the honours from twelve yards and England were ahead of their likeliest Group I challengers within twenty minutes and looked likely to enjoy another win in relative comfort. Poland lacked bite without injured striker Robert Lewandowski but it’s doubtful he’d have seen much of the ball in the first half anyway, such was England’s dominance.
But Poland are not San Marino – England’s familiarity with both tells us that – and even without their talisman the visitors were not going to let it lie. Striker Arek Milik came on as a substitute at half time and was booked within a minute, an indication of Poland’s adjusted intent after the break.
England kept them at arm’s length until the 58th minute, when disaster struck in a familiar fashion. John Stones was reintroduced to Southgate’s squad on the strength of much improved club form for Manchester City but his mistakes in an England shirt have been memorable and tend to come at a price.
Under pressure from Moder on the corner of the box and having misread the Brighton & Hove Albion man’s approach, Stones stepped inside and showed Moder enough of the ball to allow him to toe it away to Milik. Moder ran for the return pass while Stones lunged in front of Milik to be nutmegged.
Moder slammed the ball past Nick Pope to make it 1-1 with the first international goal conceded by the Burnley goalkeeper.
Poland were expected to be England’s best opposition in qualifying but the equaliser took the wind out of their sails. Where a positive reaction was required, England shrank and shirked and showed barely a hint of rising to the challenge.
There was no swell of pressure. There was no rousing finale. There was no onslaught or barrage or bombardment. There were no substitutions, either, to the growing consternation of television commentators and sofa-bound supporters alike.
But there was a winning goal. Stones played his part by busting a gut to direct a deep corner kick back from beyond the far post, and his central defensive partner Harry Maguire was on hand to crack the bouncing ball through the helpless wave of Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and into the net with five minutes to play.
Good football teams evolve through hardship. England have had an easy ride in qualifying for a great many years and it should do them no harm to endure a small reminder of what it’s like to face adversity in matches. That they rescued the situation is to their credit; that they never looked capable of rescuing it until they did is, perhaps, a mite more concerning.
England will yet come to harm some other way – their EURO hopes no doubt dashed upon the rocks of superior opponents or their inability to pick a lock – but no harm was done in beating Poland, albeit narrowly. It was, after all, a good result. On the night Germany were defeated by North Macedonia it was important to keep a sense of perspective.
But this was not perfect. Southgate’s reticence to freshen up his team suggests a lack of faith in his bench, a desire to put his first eleven through a testing situation, or both. The contrast between the first half and the second proved that England's back-four formation is not inherently negative even with two deeper midfielders, but their attitude and application can be.
None of that bodes well for the European championships, which now take centre stage.
Not all teams will win three competitive matches on the bounce with a goal difference of 9-1 and come away with lessons to learn; England did. That is where the positives can be found. Perfect isn’t what England needed with tournament football on the horizon and the task of whittling these lessons into action must begin.
The second half against Poland showed that England must keep their wits about them when World Cup qualifying returns after the summer. For now, there are more pressing matters at hand.
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Chris Nee
@SphinxFtbl