Giroud scored his 52nd goal for his country and deserved the ovation but Mbappé scored twice to ensure win against PolandA couple of days ago the France squad posed for a photo in which each player returned to their roots by donning the shirt of their first amateur team. For Olivier Giroud, now France’s all-time male record goalscorer, it was the red of Olympique Club de Froges, whose clubhouse 20km from Grenoble in south-east France is appropriately decorated for the World Cup. For Kylian Mbappé, the man who will surely overtake him, it was the green of AS Bondy, a team in a northern suburb of Paris. Even on Giroud’s big night, the masterful and electric Mbappé was able to...
The Poland striker has the most thankless job in international football but earned redemption after creating the equaliserThe second most thankless job in international football is trying to steer England through a mediocre qualifying group. Draws are a humiliation, defeats a disgrace. Wins are either “dreary” or “routine”. If you won narrowly, you were dour and unimpressive; if you won easily, then you can’t read too much into it anyway because of the weakness of the opposition. In a way this is one of those rare scenarios in which neither the process nor the outcome really matters. You are dullards by default; reassessments take place every two years. Next.So it was here for England, who in succumbing to an injury-time...
Manchester City forward was the one figure in this England team running with real purpose – but his game is still a little misunderstoodWith 58 minutes gone at Wembley, the score 1-0, and all sense of attacking pep drained from England’s fuel cells, an important life lesson presented itself.Just as you can win a tournament game on the small details, by turning this game of rich human variables into a series of managed collisions, so you can also ship a goal from nowhere via a shanked pass from a high‑grade central defender prone to moments of high‑grade dither. Related: Maguire's blast bails out Stones as England scrape nervy win over Poland Related: England 2-1 Poland: Player ratings for Gareth Southgate's...
Sir Alf Ramsey’s side were in decline and England missed out on two World Cups, but Poland taking the draw they needed gave birth to an enduring myth that they were a bogey teamVersion one: England played really well at Wembley, had 36 shots to Poland’s two, conceded to a goal that stemmed from uncharacteristic mistakes by Norman Hunter and Peter Shilton, and were unfortunate to draw 1-1.Version two: England deservedly failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup as they could only draw against Poland, their lack of attacking intelligence exposed by the way they spent the final minutes of the game as they chased a winner endlessly lofting the ball into the box. Related: Ward-Prowse scuttles and shines...
Montenegro and Serbia’s historic meeting, unhappy memories for England and the Republic of Ireland, and Georgi Petkov’s international return – at 42Twelve years after Montenegro achieved independence and 11 years after they were formally recognised by Fifa, they meet Serbia for the first time. The match is, according to goalkeeper Danijel Petkovic, the biggest in the nation’s history. After two games the teams are level on points at the top of Group C4, adding competitive edge to an already spicy encounter. Serbia are far from full strength: Crystal Palace’s Luka Milivojevic is one of several players to have dropped out of the squad since the World Cup after falling out with the manager, Mladen Krstajic, while the captain, Nemanja Matic,...