World Cup / Group Six / England 2 Poland 0: No one can accuse England of slinking through to the World Cup finals. This was their most impressive showing in Group Six, which they have now won thanks to Frank Lampard's 80th-minute goal.
Sven-Goran Eriksson's side not only had enterprise and flair, but also the endurance to cope with an unexpected equaliser after Michael Owen's 33rd goal for his country.
Lampard's goal crowned a flowing move that showed the confidence even as time was running out. The scorer himself started it before Joe Cole found Owen and his diagonal pass was volleyed home by Lampard.
The match was also shaped, inevitably, by the return of a man who had missed Saturday's torpid victory over Austria. It would be an imposition to cast a mere teenager as the mainspring of the England side were it not for the fact Wayne Rooney treats it as his right.
There was even a sense of incongruity about an opener, from Owen, that did not involve the teenager. There were flawed moments from Rooney and he even steered one simple pass out of play, but the exuberance never varies. He is Eriksson's one-man rebuttal unit against the charge of wilfully producing boring football.
The risk of depending on Rooney has already been seen in the fatal consequences for England of his cracked metatarsal at Euro 2004, but it would be impossible for any side to stop itself from going constantly to such a well of talent. His contribution, welded to the relaxed mood that followed England's qualification on Saturday, made for an invigorating start.
This one lasted longer than Saturday's promising opening. David Beckham may have been suspended and Steven Gerrard injured, but Rooney looked capable of doing every kind of job in attack. Such was his contentment that he was placid even when Kim Milton Nielsen, the referee who sent him off during Manchester United's game in Villareal last month, ruled against him in the early exchanges.
The one Pole who might have been glad to have Rooney around was Artur Boruc. He is on loan to Celtic and seeks either handsome terms to remain there on a permanent basis or a lucrative offer from the Premiership. His negotiating position could only be enhanced by the rumour Arsenal were assessing him last night.
Oddly enough, the pressure from England did not let him show off his reflexes or athleticism all that much before the interval and he was helpless at Owen's close-range finish.
Rooney could often surge at a defender as if it were inevitable he would go clear of him, but there was generally cover around. This, nonetheless, was a far more encouraging display than any other effort from England this season and the Poland equaliser on the verge of half-time was a shock.
There was a brightness from England in most areas, with Ledley King settling well into the holding role, even if it was one of his challenges that led to the substitution of the leading scorer in this Poland side, Maciej Zurwaski. Eriksson's team had so sound a base that there were few indications the Poles had been averaging almost three goals a game in these qualifiers.
Rooney was at his slickest to turn Mariusz Jop and and unleash a drive that rose a little too high after half-an-hour and, with England pushing forward much more than they did on Saturday, promising attempts were also made by King, Cole and Lampard. Owen's goal, his 22nd for England in competitive matches, typified a poacher's instinct.
Cole's drive from the left after 43 minutes would have gone wide, but the Newcastle striker showed his reactions to pop the ball past Boruc. The mood of attainment was bafflingly brief. Poland, who had hardly threatened, broke on the right in first-half stoppage-time through the tenacity of Kamil Kosowski. He got clear of John Terry and the cut-back was volleyed in by the substitute Tomasz Frankowski.
Eriksson's players regrouped and when the game resumed after the interval so, too, did their enthusiasm. The onus was on a player such as Wright-Phillips to prove his worth on the right. After being so subdued in the defeat by Northern Ireland, he was resolved at least to be industrious. It was his run, in the 54th minutes, that brought a corner from which Rooney untypically flicked a finish over the crossbar after reaching Rio Ferdinand's knock-down.
There had to be respect for the durability of Poland and a figure like Jop, booked for a foul on Cole, embodied the doggedness.
England should still have had the lead, but when Owen met an inswinging Cole cross in the 65th minute the header was too near Boruc, who parried.
England soon replaced Wright-Phillips with target man Peter Crouch. It is a ploy Eriksson has spoken of using in the finals, but he had to turn to it here with his side too close to being left as second best in the group.
ENGLAND: Robinson; Young, Ferdinand, Terry, Carragher; Wright-Phillips (Crouch, 67), King, Lampard, J Cole (Smith, 87); Rooney, Owen (Jenas, 84). Subs: P Neville, Kirkland, Bent, Defoe.
POLAND (4-4-2): Boruc; Baszczynski, Jop, Bak, Zelakow; Smolarek (Krzynowek, h-t), Sobolewski (Radomski,79) Lewandowski, Kosowski; Zurawski (Frankowski, 39), Rasiak. Subs: Kowalewski, Rzasa, Mila, Klos.
Referee: K Milton Nielsen (Denmark).
