England 2-0 Poland
Coach Roy Hodgson post game quotes:
“We have done the job, we’ve played 10 matches unbeaten and the record is good. “We are going to Brazil, which is something the whole nation wants and backs us. The support right the way through the campaign has been very good.
“We feel at least that we can be proud of that achievement and we look forward to receiving our reward which is playing at the World Cup finals.” At 1-0 you can’t relax especially when Poland have quality players like Jakub Blaszczykowski and Robert Lewandowski on the pitch.
“I died a thousand deaths every time they crossed the half-way line! “But the important thing tonight was to do the job. It sounds easy – two matches at home and win them and you qualify – but anyone who has been involved in football for a long time and who has seen a lot of matches will know it is not as easy as all that and the important thing is to keep working hard at our game.
“I thought that they showed a lot of heart for a team with nothing to play for and a lot of fight, but we came through.” It means an awful lot. I was lucky enough to go to a World Cup [in 1994] with Switzerland – I was very proud of that. Switzerland didn’t have the wealth of players that we have with England.
“I thought the USA experience was very good and I think the Brazil experience will be great too. “There will be pressure along the way but this team is growing in the way it handles pressure and the real beauty of it for me is the blend of the experienced players and the younger players looks good.
“We are hoping they will all stay fit because it really has made a difference having the young players we were talking about a lot in the early part of the campaign being available for us.
“At the moment you want to take all of these lads to the World Cup plus another 15. It’s going to a tough job to pick 23 when the time comes.
“I’m not looking forward to that situation but I’m not going to contemplate that for the next three months.”
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