Match Preview: England v Poland

The Poles have rained on our parade before

Who are we playing?
Poland

Big game?
Oh yes, Win and we are going to Brazil for the World Cup. Draw or lose and the nightmare of the play-offs beckons. Ukraine play San Marino, who've lost every game in the group, so any slip up by Woy's Boys and we're right in the sweet and sticky.The Montenegro win means we can't finish lower than second. The Poles are playing for pride.

Where are we playing?
Wembley Stadium, in Wembley, in London. Wembley is not the loveliest part of the UK, but they still decided to build the national stadium there, giving foreign visitors a less than sparkling impression of our fair nation.

Can I go?
Probably not unless you've already got a ticket. It's looking sold out. If you're desperate to go, some firms running coaches down to the match might have a match ticket or two going.

How many are they bringing?
Controversially, the FA has given them a massive 18,000, but given the size of the Polish community in the UK, there could well be even more than that.

Easy to get to?

Driving and parking can be a pain and you know what those motorways can get like of a Tuesday. If you are travelling from Birmingham, the train is probably your best bet, with direct trains from Moor Street to the Stadium, and trains back at 22:18, 22:50 or the last one at 23:17 if you fancy a cheeky couple of post match pints.

Can I watch it on the telly?
You can, for free on itv, but you have to put up with Adrian Chiles and Weirdy Beardy Roy Keane, Clive Tyldesley will try and make it sound exciting, Andy Townsend will drone on incessantly. We'll be amazed if Chiles can get through the whole show without mentioning his Polish builders.

Who's playing for us?
It'll be interesting to see what Woy does with his formation because, certainly in the first half against Montenegro, it didn't quite click. Andros Townsend did more than enough to stake his claim but faces a fitness test after taking a knock on Friday. Stupid boy Kyle Walker managed to get himself suspended so we'll need a makeshift right back, with Prince of Gurners Phil Jones the most likely. This enforced change may tempt Woy to sacrifice one of his three strikers for more width.

Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster, Joe Hart, John Ruddy

Defenders: Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Kieran Gibbs, Phil Jagielka, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling

Midfielders: Ross Barkley, Michael Carrick, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Andros Townsend, Jack Wilshere, Raheem Sterling

Forwards: Jermain Defoe, Rickie Lambert, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Welbeck

Who's playing for them?

Goalkeepers

1 Artur Boruc (FC SOUTHAMPTON)
2 Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal)
3 Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal)
Defenders
4 Peter Celeban (FC Vaslui)
5 Kamil Glik (FC TORINO)
6 Arthur Jędrzejczyk (Krasnodar)
7 Bartosz Salamon (Sampdoria)
8 Luke was looking for (Steaua Bucuresti)
9 Marcin Wasilewski (Leicester City)
10 Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (TSV 1860 MUNICH)
Midfield
11 Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)
12 Mateusz Klich (PEC ZWOLLE)
13 Grzegorz Krychowiak (Reims)
14 Mariusz Lewandowski (PFC SEVASTOPOL)
15 Adrian Mierzejewski (Trabzonspor)
16 Slawomir Peszko (FC KOELN)
17 Eugen Polanski (HOFFENHEIM)
18 Waldemar Sobota (FC Brugge)
19 Paul Wszołek (Sampdoria)
20 Piotr Zielinski (Udinese)
Forwards
21 Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund)
22 Artur Sobiech (Hannover 96)

Any useless stats and info?

If we must:

• Poland has never won the Eurovision Song Contest and hasn't competed in it since 2011.

• They tended to vote for Ukraine when they were in Eurovision, so might be looking to do their "friends" a favour on Tuesday night..

• England hasn't lost to Poland since the match in Slaski June 1973.

• The subsequent 1-1 draw at Wembley in 1973 meant that Poland qualified for the World Cup in West Germany, and cost Sir Alf Ramsey his job.

• There have been 7 draws between the nations and while England has ten victories.

He said, she said:
"The job is half done and now we have to finish it off. We're accustomed to the pressure of big games for club or country so we will express ourselves." -Leighton Baines

"There is no pressure on Poland and England will be very stressed because they have to win, otherwise their supporters won't forgive them," -Jan Tomaszewski (the man Cloughie called a clown)

Prediction:

We predict a nervy England win and a rollercoaster of a match