ENGLISH football's latest homecoming should leave Wembley feeling reasonably sanguine about Glenn Hoddle's chances of succeeding where Graham Taylor failed by taking England to the 1998 World Cup in France. If Alan Shearer gets the proper service, and in particular the right quality of cross, against Poland tonight the international scoring form he discovered during the European Championship will surely do the rest.
A repetition of the 3-0 victory Hoddle achieved against Moldova five weeks ago in his first match as Terry Venables's successor is more than likely. Poland's team, without a win in a dozen games, is in a poor state just now; out of form and fractious, with several of the overseas players at odds with the coach, Antoni Piechniczek. Besides, the man most likely to pose problems for the England defence, Juskowiak, is out of the squad and sulking in his tent.
Kowalczyk and Ivan have also quarrelled with Piechniczeck and refused to play. Tonight Poland will pack their midfield and hope that Nowak's vision can surprise England on the counter-attack, as a rather more accomplished Polish side did 23 years ago in eliminating Alf Ramsey's team from the 1974 World Cup with a 1-1 draw at Wembley.
That result crops up whenever England play the Poles at home, although subsequent meetings have seen them beaten 3-0, 2-0 and 3-0 again. While the teams of Bobby Rob son and Graham Taylor scrambled draws in Katowice and Poznan, the spell that Poland might once have cast over English ambitions in major tournaments surely disappeared with Gary Lineker's hat-trick in Monterrey in the 1986 World Cup. Maybe it is Shearer's turn for one now.
When the draw for the present qualifying tournament was made it was easy to assume that Poland would be the dark horses in England's group, just as Norway proved to be last time. Tonight's results, both at Wembley and in Perugia, where Italy play Georgia, will test the truth of that assumption.
Maybe the Georgians will loom larger on England's horizon than the Poles. In that case it will be even more important for Hoddle's team to turn in the sort of performance tonight which will leave them confident to Uce Georgi Kinkladze and company in Tblisi on November 9th.
Even if England win with the style of their 4-1 victory over Holland during Euro '96 any celebrations would be premature. Too many fatted calves have been dished up in the past only for England to find themselves among the left-overs.
Beating Italy at Wembley in February will give Hoddle his best chance of topping Group Two and avoiding the possibility of a play-off to reach the tournament proper. Beating Poland tonight is merely a means towards that end.
In the matter of team selection Hoddle has said plenty over the last week without actually saying anything. No possibility has been dismissed but no probability has been acknowledged.
Naturally, with Ferdinand now joined by Shearer at Newcastle United, the question of both leading the England attack has been discussed at length. It would be surprising, however, to see Ferdinand starting tonight's game, partly because this sort of combination seldom works at major tournament level but as much because, as Shearer admits, the pair are still working things out between them at St.James' Park.
In any case, why leave out Barmby after his encouraging performance alongside Shearer in Kishinev? The only team change Hoddle need make now would be to recall McManaman to float behind the front runners and omit Hinchcliffe. Either way much rests on Shearer, Ince and whatever cameos Gascoigne can provide.
Memories of the way Taylor began his attempt to quality for the 1994 World Cup, when Rekdal's late goal for Norway forced a 1-1 draw at Wembley after the home side had dominated the match, are still relevant. Even an impoverished Poland attack will not ignore the sort of space Hoddle's three-man defence allowed Moldova at the start of last month's game.
High though English hopes might be after Euro '96, moreover, it is pertinent to point out that in their last 10 competitive fixtures at Wembley, discounting penalty shoot-outs, England have drawn as many times as they have won. Now seems as good a time as any to tip the balance.
