Most Saints supporters will be roaring on England against Poland tonight and in the process will be praying that the Polish keeper has a nightmare, but will that be good for Saints hopes on Saturday ?
Saints keeper Artur Boruc stands between England and qualification for Brazil 2014, a convincing victory for England is the hope for every fan of the Three Lions and certainly none of us want to have to endure a bit of squeaky bum time in the closing stages with a tight scoreline, however if England do give the Poles a pasting it wont be good for the confidence of Boruc ahead of a visit to Old Trafford on Saturday when the Polish keeper will be facing the man who could well be his main tormentor tonight at Wembley, Wayne Rooney.
Comparisons will obviously be drawn between Boruc and the Polish keeper 40 years ago back in 1973 at Wembley, Jan Tomaszewski was his name and he put in a man of the match performance despite being labelled a clown in the pre match build up by TV studio pundit Brian Clough.
Back then the Poles hung on for a 1-1 draw which meant that they and not England qualified for the 1974 finals in West Germany, ironically enough at the other end future Saints keeper Peter Shilton made an uncharacteristic error for the Polish goal that gave them the lead which left England with an uphill task which proved too much for them, other Saints connection's that night were Mick Channon who played the full 90 minutes for England and ex Saint Martin Chivers who was replaced by Kevin Hector back in the days when only one sub was allowed.
The game was played almost a year to the day of this one, 17th October 1973, for those that like to draw comparisons, the away game in Poland 4 months earlier had seen the final games of World Cup Winners Alan Ball and Bobby Moore and Alf Ramsey had gambled on a new breed to try and get England through with Mick Channon and Tony Currie coming into the side from the one that had lost 2-0 in Poland