Was the International period a success for England? (VIDEO)

Domestic football had taken a break for a week and half and was replaced with a couple of international fixtures for each nation. For England it was a chance to pick up six points and six points they were capable of getting.

Firstly the Three Lions had a home fixture against a team ranked the lowest in the qualifying stages. A slow start frustrated England but by the full time whistle it was a case of the underdogs had been fed to the Lions as England comfortably improved their goal difference with a 5-0 win.

Roy Hodgson would have been relatively pleased with the result at Wembley as he played a few second string players and he was without regular captain Steven Gerrard for that one game.

With his players rested and the captain back Roy would have had high hopes of his trip to Poland in the week, that was until the decisions made by the Polish FA caused England to have a bit of a headache in Warsaw and a unnecessary distraction.

On the day of the match it was decided that the roof to the stadium wouldn’t be closed even though it was raining. Shortly before kick-off Warsaw experienced a minor monsoon, which left an uncovered pitch the chance to turn into a large outdoor swimming pool. The game had to be postponed and played the next day.

All the players within both teams had to deal with playing a day later and get in the right frame of mind again; especially for the English players as they thought they would be on a plane home on the Wednesday instead they were representing their nation in a vital qualifier.

In the end the draw they got in Poland was down to the fact that the hosts dealt with the postponement and pitch conditions better and therefore England were denied the two wins they thought they would get.

However the last week and a half has been successful for England as they are still top of the group admittedly their lead isn’t as big as they thought it would be, but in reality it appears that England will comfortably qualify as group winners for Brazil in 2014.

These Polish fans had the right idea to keep themselves occupied whilst waiting for a decision to be made. Shame the stewards didn’t agree.

Daniel Clark

@ClarkyD92