Welcome to live coverage of Poland versus England in World Cup Qualifying Group I in the European zone. It’s usually good, this fixture, particularly when it’s connected to the World Cup. Although the common perception regarding Poland is that they are a bogey team for England in this competition, the record doesn’t bear this out. Poland have only beaten England once in 20 attempts, a 2-0 victory in June 1973 that set up the result that really grates on England; a 1-1 draw at Wembley four months later that knocked England out of the World Cup and spelled the end for Alf Ramsey. Since then, England have had the upper hand. A hat-trick by Gary Lineker in Monterrey (you may have heard him mention it) set England on their path to meet with Diego Maradona in Mexico 86, while Bobby Robson’s team then survived – just – a late crossbar wobbler from Ryszard Tarasiewicz in 1989 that almost nixed England’s Italia ’90 love-in seven months ahead of the tournament. Overall, England have won 12,

World Cup Qualification UEFA / Matchday 6

PGE Narodowy / 08.09.2021

Poland

Completed

England

D. Szymanski(90+3')

H. Kane(73')

Live

Live Updates

ByPete Sharland

Updated 08/09/2021 at 20:43 GMT

19:30

At the other end of the pitch is one H Kane of the Spurs. On Sunday he converted a penalty against Andorra to move to 40 international goals, putting him in joint fifth place with Michael Owen for the all-time record for the men's national time. Still to be reeled in are Jimmy Greaves (44), Gary Lineker (48), Bobby Charlton (49) and Wayne Rooney (53).

19:25

Let's have a little flashback to the reverse of this fixture, aeons ago in March. A tight game was settled by this booming drive from Harry Maguire with just five minutes to go.

19:20

So, Robert. Let's face it, Thomas Muller was right to call him 'Lewan-goal-ski' and then double down on the gag; firstly, it's a zinger, and secondly, it's true. For Poland alone Lewandowski has bagged 72 goals, and get on this: for Bayern Munich in the last two and a wee bit seasons he's netted 110 times in 91 matches.

In that spell Bayern have won the Bundesliga twice and the Champions League. No Ballon d'Or was awarded for 2020, otherwise Lewandowski would have walked it. Surely he deserves it this time.

19:15

As for England, this match represents their hardest in the qualifying section. They’ve won all five qualifiers so far, and any kind of result would make them heavy, heavy favourites to get out of the group in first place. If there is a hangover from that agonising near miss in Euro 2020, they’re not showing it; in the last six days they’ve swept aside Hungary and Andorra with minimal fuss.

19:10

So, where now for the Poles? Euro 2020 was a miserable experience for them as one of the eight teams eliminated in the group stages. That was off the back of a first round exit at the World Cup in Russia in 2018, as this promising generation of players continues to return underwhelming results. They’ve won their last two qualifiers however, and will be right on England’s heels at the top of the group if they win tonight.

19:05

Just the eleven changes for England, as Gareth Southgate returns to what we must assume is his current strongest line-up. Southgate has stressed that England can’t afford to be complacent here tonight, and he’s set up accordingly. The familiar double pivot of Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice is back in the middle of the park and Jack Grealish, who has impressed in this little mini-spell of internationals, gets another chance to make a place in the team his own.

19:00

Poland's captain, most-capped player and record scorer Robert Lewandowski will lead the line tonight; he'll be joined up top by Adam Buksa, the New England revolution striker making his third appearance and with four international goals to his name already.

18:55

Here's the England team:

18:50

Here's your Poland, lining up in a 4-4-2:

Szczesny, Dawidowicz, Glik, Bednarek, Puchacz; Jozwiak, Linetty, Krychowiak, Moder; Buksa, Lewandowski

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