Warsaw Washout for England as World Cup qualifier against Poland is re-scheduled

England’s World Cup qualifier against Poland was called off last night after heavy rain left the pitch waterlogged.

The postponement – which has now rescheduled for 4pm today – caused outrage after officials at Kazimierz Gorski Stadium took the bizarre decision not to close the retractable roof at the venue.

The Group H fixture was due to kick-off at 8pm, but it was delayed so that a number of pitch inspections could take place and referee Gianluca Rocchi finally called off the match just before 9pm amid farcical scenes.

England boss Roy Hodgson refused to criticise the stadium officials, but is hopeful the match will get the go-ahead as planned on Wednesday.

When asked about the roof, he told ITV: “That’s something I can’t answer, it’s not as easy as that.

“You have to speak to the Polish authorities and go through all the rigmarole that might be necessary for them to close the roof.

“But I hope they will get it closed as quickly as possible and start to do some work on the pitch because right now the pitch is in a very poor condition.

“The water is now lying on the surface and it’s going to need a bit of attention if it’s going to be playable on Wednesday afternoon.”

Hodgson was happy that the match could be rescheduled for the following day.

“I think it was the only decision that could be made,” he said. “There’re no other possibilities. You can’t find dates at international level. The dates that are available are all taken up so you can’t just suddenly decide we’ll play it another time.

“What you have to do is to try to organise to get the game played as quickly as possible. We’ll have to go back to the hotel. We’re disappointed.

“We prepared well for this start tonight as no doubt the Poles have too, but now we’ve got to do it all over again and hopefully we’ll be as prepared as we were tonight.”

The England boss confirmed he will stick with the same line-up which was originally due to face the Poles.