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Polska

 

 
755 vs. France
756
757 vs. Hungary

Saturday, 27 March 1999
European Championship 2000 Group Five qualification match

England 3 Poland 1 [2-1]
 

 

Wembley Stadium, Wembley, Brent, Greater London
Attendance: 73,836;
Kick-off: 3.00pm BST
Live on
Sky Sports (UK) - Commentator: Martin Tyler and Andy Gray

England - Paul Scholes (11, in off his arm from a Beckham cross 21, 71 hat-trick)
Poland - Jerzy Brzęczek (28)
Match Summary
England Squad
Poland Squad
Team Records
Poland - Krzysztof Ratajczyk (13), Tomasz Hajto (19).
England - Paul Scholes (27), Tim Sherwood (54).
Results 1995-2000

? kicked-off. ? minutes (? & ?).

 

Match Summary

Officials from Portugal

England

Type

Poland

Referee (black) - Vitor Manuel Melo Pereira
x (-), FIFA-listed.

Assistant Referee - Paulo Jorge Januario Leite Ribeiro and Carlos Manuel Ferreira Matos

Fourth Official
- Antonio Manuel Almeida Costa

Teams presented to Trevor Brooking CBE, ex-England player.
England mascot is Emily Wells, 12 years old, Manningtree, Essex
;

18 Goal Attempts 9
6 Attempts on Target 3
0 Hit Bar/Post 0
5 Corner Kicks Won 3
3 Offside Calls Against 5
9 Fouls Conceded 17
  Possession  

England Team

 

Rank:

FIFA (24 March 1999) 11th
EFO ranking

ELO rating 9th
Colours: The 1997 Umbro away uniform - Red shadow striped collared jersey, navy collar/cuffs with white/red trim, white shorts with red/navy lower side panel, red socks with two navy hoops.
Capt: Alan Shearer, nineteenth captaincy Caretaker Head Coach: Joseph Kevin Keegan OBE, 48 (14 February 1951), appointed as caretaker coach 17 February 1999.
first match, W 1 - D 0 - L 0 - F 3 - A 1.
England Lineup
1 Seaman, David A. 35 19 September 1963 G Arsenal FC 49 25 GA
2 Neville, Gary A. 24 18 February 1975 RB Manchester United FC 32 0
3 Le Saux, Graeme P. 30 17 October 1968 LB Chelsea FC 34 1
4 Sherwood, Timothy A. 30 6 February 1969 CM Tottenham Hotspur FC 1 0
Sherwood cautioned in the 54th minute for Unsporting Behavior for a foul tackle on Tomasz Iwan.
5 Keown, Martin R. 32 24 July 1966 CD Arsenal FC 21 1
6 Campbell, Sulzeer J. 24 18 September 1974 CD Tottenham Hotspur FC 25 0
7 Beckham, David R.J., off 78th min. 23 2 May 1975 RM Manchester United FC 22 1
8

Scholes, Paul, off 85th min. 24 16 November 1974 CM Manchester United FC 16 7
Scholes cautioned in the 27th minute for Unsporting Behaviour for a foul tackle on Jerzy Brzęczek.
9 Shearer, Alan 28 13 August 1970 F Newcastle United FC 48 22
10 Cole, Andrew A. 27 15 October 1971 F Manchester United FC 4 0
11 McManaman, Steven, off 70th min 27 11 February 1972 LM Liverpool FC 23 0
England Substitutes
17 Parlour, Raymond, on 70th min., for McManaman 26 7 March 1973 L/RM Arsenal FC 1 0
12 Neville, Philip J., on 78th min., for Beckham 22 21 January 1977 LM Manchester United FC 14 0
16 Redknapp, Jamie F., on 85th min. for Scholes 25 25 June 1973 CM Liverpool FC 12 0

unused substitutes:

13-Nigel Martyn, 14-Gareth Southgate, 15-Rio Ferdinand, 18-Chris Armstrong.
 
4-4-2 Seaman -
G.Neville, Keown, Campbell, Le Saux -
Beckham
(P.Neville), Sherwood, Scholes (Redknapp), McManaman (Parlour) -
Shearer, Cole.
Notes: When Phil Neville came on for Beckham in the 78th minute, he took the left midfield position, and Parlour, who had replaced McManaman at left midfield in the 70th minute, shifted to his usual right midfield position.

Averages:

Age 27.6 Appearances/Goals - -

 

Poland Team

 

Rank:

FIFA (24 March 1999) 27th
EFO ranking

ELO rating 29th to 30th
Colours: Made by Adidas - White v-necked jerseys with red broad Adidas trim on side/collar/Adidas sleeve trim and white cuffs, red shorts with white Adidas trim, white socks.
Capt: Jerzy Brzęczek Manager: Janusz Marek Wojcik, 45 (18 November 1953), appointed 23 July 1997,
18th match, W 12 - D 1 - L 5 - F 29 - A 20.
Poland Lineup
1 Matysek, Adam 30 19 July 1968 G Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Germany 22 GA
2 Bąk, Jacek 27 24 March 1973 M Olympique Lyonnais, France 21 1
3 Łapiński, Tomasz 29 1 August 1969 D RTS Widzew Łodź 32 0
4 Ratajczyk, Krzysztof 25 9 November 1973 D SK Rapid Wien, Austria 12 2
Ratajcyk cautioned in the 13th minute for Unsporting Behaviour for a foul tackle on Andrew Cole.
5 Zieliński, Jacek 31 10 October 1967 D Legia Warszawa 30 1
6 Hajto, Tomasz 26 16 October 1972 D MSV Duisburg, Germany 21 2
Hajto cautioned in the 19th minute for dissent after refusing to hand over ball.
7 Świerczewski, Piotr, off 46th min. 26 8 April 1972 M Gamba Osaka, Japan 41 1
8 Iwan, Tomasz 27 12 June 1971 F Philips Sport Vereniging NV, Netherlands 19 2
9 Siadaczka, Rafał, off 68th min. 27 21 February 1972 D FK Austria Wien, Austria 10 1
10 Brzęczek, Jerzy 28 18 March 1971 M Maccabi Haifa FC, Israel 39 4
11 Trzeciak, Mirosław, off 84th min. 30 11 April 1968 F CA Osasuna, Spain 15 7
Poland Substitutes
16 Kłos, Tomasz, on 46th min. for Świerczewski 26 7 March 1973 M AJ Auxerre, France 10 1
18 Kowalczyk, Wojciech, on 68th min. for Siadackza 26 14 April 1972 F UD Las Palmas SAD, Spain 38 11
15 Juskowiak, Andrzej, on 84th min. for Trzeciak 29 3 November 1970 F VfL Wolfsburg eV, Germany 31 13

unused substitutes:

12-Kazimierz Sidorczuk, 13-Ryszard Czerwiec, 14-Tomasz Waldoch, 17-Radoslaw Michalski.
 
5-3-2 Matysek -
Lapi
ński -
Hajto, Ratajczyk, Zieli
ński, Siadaczka (Kowalczyk*) -
Świerczewski* (Kłos*), Brzęczek, Bąk* -
Iwan -
Trzeciak
(Juskowiak).
Notes -
Poland chose an ultra-defensive alignment, not only playing five defenders, but also a three-man midfield in which two places were filled by players whose usual position was defender. When forward Kowalczyk replaced defender Siadaczka in the 68th minute, Poland adopted a slightly more offence-oriented 4-3-1-2 alignment.

Averages:

Age - Appearances/Goals - -

 

    Match Report by Mike Payne

 

Source Notes

The sun shone on England and temporary manager Kevin Keegan as perennial rivals Poland were comprehensively beaten in front of another Wembley full-house.  Fulham's Chief Operating Officer had agreed to take charge for four matches, up to and including the Euro 2000 qualifier in Sofia, and he promised that his England players would wear the three lions with pride.

Andy Cole, playing for his former mentor at Newcastle, was given his first England start alongside skipper Alan Shearer.  But it was Paul Scholes, tucked in behind the front two, who emerged as England's hero with a stunning hat-trick.  Not even sure of a place in Manchester United's starting line-up, the carrot-topped star scored a priceless goal after 10 minutes to send England on their way to three vital points.

He anticipated Shearer's knockdown on the edge of the box and bravely lifted the ball over Polish 'keeper Matysek as he rushed out to meet the danger.  The ball rolled gently into the net and English fans were suddenly in full voice.  On 21 minutes it got even better as Scholes nudged the ball in - probably with his shoulder - as Beckham's cross speared into the near-post area.

Another goal now perhaps would have left the Poles for dead.  But, perhaps reading from a different script, Polish captain Brzeczek beat Seaman with a low shot into the corner on 28 minutes after some slack marking down the left flank.  A scoreline of 2-1 at the break was certain to make the second half interesting.

Poland had won their two qualifiers to date, both of them 3-0, but this was not a great Polish side and an England team showing more of the passion and commitment promised by Keegan didn't look to be in any trouble.  Their was fluency in their passing and everything seemed to go through Tim Sherwood, enjoying an impressive international debut at the age of 30.

Steve McManaman, bound for Real Madrid in the summer, was featuring in his first England match of the campaign but had a quiet first half in which he saw little of the ball out wide on the left.  There were a a couple of trademark bursts into the box in the second period before Arsenal's Ray Parlour replaced him to win his first cap in the 69th minute.  Within seconds Scholes had made it 3-1 with a firm header.  - The Official F.A. and England Yearbook 1999-2000.

TheFA.com
ESPN Classic
Original newspaper reports
Official teamsheet
Rothman's Yearbooks
F.A. Yearbook
____________________

CG