THE roof could fall in on England’s World Cup qualifying hopes if they do not get their act together.

This game was postponed for a day due to a waterlogged pitch because the Poles did not close the roof on their national stadium.

When it finally got going, England were a right shower and lucky to get out of Warsaw with a point.

It is 39 years since the 1-1 draw against Poland at Wembley cost England their place at the 1974 World Cup. And the Poles are still causing the Three Lions grief.

This was woeful — and the Road to Rio is turning out to be one full of potholes. England have beaten the two easiest teams in Group H and failed to win against two of their main challengers, Poland here and Ukraine at home.

They also face a couple of games against Montenegro, who are shaping up to be the toughest opposition of the lot. And by next month Montenegro will be top once they have dispensed with whipping boys San Marino.

All over the pitch, England were found wanting last night.

Wayne Rooney scored but had one of his worst games in an England shirt. So disappointing was the Manchester United striker, he was hauled off after 83 minutes.

Even his 31st-minute goal was a scruffy affair, with the ball coming off his head on to his shoulder and in off a defender’s hand.

The normally reliable keeper Joe Hart admitted costing his side victory when he failed to get to a corner and Kamil Glik headed in the equaliser with 20 minutes left.

Ashley Cole, back in place of the unlucky Leighton Baines, also struggled on his 99th appearance, while there was an obvious lack of width.

LINING UP … England before the game

Hodgson’s decision to play Tom Cleverley, Steven Gerrard and Michael Carrick in midfield meant that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had to be sacrificed.

Only when The Ox came on did England look capable of stretching the impressive Poles down the flank.

Hodgson had to plead with Carrick to come out of international exile but you wondered about the wisdom of that request as the Geordie kept giving the ball away.

The manager admitted he did not feel his side were ‘up for it’ the way they had been the day before.

But Poland certainly were — and they put England right under.

HEADS UP … Wayne Rooney puts England ahead

With the stadium surprisingly full considering the afternoon kick-off, they were roared forward under the now closed roof.

The thousand or so England fans who had commendably stayed an extra day had good reason to be concerned early on.

Kamil Grosicki miskicked 12 yards out and Hart thrust out a hand to prevent Lukasz Piszczek getting his shot in.

The Manchester City keeper added to the visitors’ uncertainty with a poor kick which put in Poland’s star striker Robert Lewandowski but his shot flashed across goal.

England were hanging on — then scored totally against the run of play. Skipper Steven Gerrard, another winning his 99th cap, was tackled to earn a corner.

POLES APART … England celebrate taking the lead

And his flag kick picked out Rooney who bundled the ball in.

You thought that would settle England down yet it did nothing of the sort. They kept presenting the ball to the opposition. Luckily, the finishing left much to be desired.

Grosicki sliced wide just before half-time and Glen Johnson got in ahead of Lewandowski to prevent the striker breaking clear.

Johnson was one of the better performers and it needed his intervention just after the break to keep Poland out again.

Centre-back Phil Jagielka got in a tangle and was bailed out by brilliant work from Johnson, who slid in to save the day with Lewandowski poised to pounce.

ROO BEAUTY … Steven Gerrard congratulates the goal-scorer

When Hart tipped over from Ludovic Obraniak and Piszczek fired into the side-netting it defied belief that England were still ahead.

Strangely they should have doubled the lead as hard-working Jermain Defoe met Gerrard’s cross at the far post only to fluff his chance.

That was his last act as he was replaced by Danny Welbeck.

Welbeck immediately set up Old Trafford club-mate Rooney who fired over the bar. And England paid for that miss as Poland deservedly levelled from a corner.

Hart flapped at the ball and Glik rose to thunder home. Rooney was replaced by Oxlade-Chamberlain who at least gave the full-backs something to think about.

HART-BEAT … Kamil Glik heads past Joe Hart for Poland’s equaliser

But Glik headed over for Poland and Welbeck glanced a header wide from a James Milner cross before the whistle brought an end to an eventful couple of days.

The England players saluted their fans before heading down the tunnel. They knew who the heroes were on this trip.

The worrying question for fans was whether this was a team heading down a slippery slope. Brazil is looking that little bit further away.

Chelsea have refused to confirm whether John Terry will remain captain after receiving a four-game ban for racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.

Terry will miss the Blues’ next four domestic games but the centre-back is eligible to play in Tuesday’s Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk.

“You will have to wait and see,” said Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo when repeatedly asked about the captaincy.

The Italian did confirm that Terry has been told of the decision.

But on several occasions he reiterated the London club’s stance of not “discussing publicly the disciplinary action we take against our players”.

Di Matteo added: “I understand not everyone will agree. That’s not for us to discuss. We are taking action against our player and we feel it is appropriate action we have taken against him.

“We appreciate he has not appealed the ban and fine and also that he has apologised publicly for the language he used and we are supportive of that.

“He’s apologised generally to everyone, including the Ferdinand family.”

However, at a news conference ahead of their match against Everton on Sunday, Queens Park Rangers manager Mark Hughes said he thought Terry would not apologise in person to Ferdinand.

“I think John Terry feels that he hasn’t done anything wrong and that has been his stance,” he said. “So for him to apologise would perhaps be an admission of guilt, so I wouldn’t have thought he would be prepared to do that.”

On the subject of the captaincy, a Chelsea spokesman, sitting alongside Di Matteo, added: “We recognise and appreciate people will want to know [about Terry’s punishment].

“But it is our right as an organisation with the disciplinary process we have – it is a personnel matter, it is a HR [human resources] matter, and many organisations deal with it in the same way and we feel that dealing with it as a confidential matter is the way we should continue to go forward.”

The spokesman defended the club, which has been accused of double standards after a supporter was banned from Stamford Bridge for life for racially abusing former striker Didier Drogba.

“Every situation is dealt with according to the circumstances,” he said.

“He [the supporter] received the lifetime ban because he was successfully prosecuted in court as a result of a criminal prosecution.

“The sanctions that are open to us with regards to supporters are quite limited and that remains exclusion from the stadium.”

Di Matteo also revealed Chelsea would be disciplining left-back Ashley Cole following his £90,000 fine for posting an offensive Twitter message about the FA.

“Our policy is to encourage players to use social media within the boundaries and responsibilities it brings to use those entities,” he said.

Meanwhile, Di Matteo did confirm that all of Chelsea’s players would be wearing Kick It Out T-shirts ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

“We strongly support the Kick It Out campaign and all our players are supportive of it and work hard to fight any discrimination,” he stated. “All the players will wear shirts.”

Reading striker Jason Roberts intends to boycott Kick It Out’s annual week of action,  which started on Thursday, protesting against what he perceives to be the campaign group’s lack of action in combating racism in football.

(BBC Football) 

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