Wednesday afternoon was the chance of England to take complete charge of what looks to be a very open Group H.
Roy Hodgson’s side failed to do this after being held in Poland to a 1-1 draw. It wasn’t a good performance but how does the most closely fought group so far in World Cup qualification stand now.
Still unbeaten under Roy
If you ignore the penalty shootout defeat to Italy in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012, England have now gone 11 games unbeaten under their new boss.
There seems to be no vindication in the solid job Hodgson (pictured) is doing. While the football at times has been unattractive and dire to watch, it is proving to be fairly effective.
This is a manager who was appointed in April by the FA with a proven track record at international level.
He took Switzerland to USA 94 and they did reach the top three in the FIFA world rankings in his tenure, something the Three Lions have already achieved in his short time.
He has had to deal with plenty of issues too. There were a load of injuries in the build-up to Euro 2012, with Gareth Barry, Gary Cahill and Frank Lampard all ruled out.
Then, other players like Peter Crouch and Micah Richards refused to be on the standby list for the tournament and hence lost their international recognition.
While behaviour from the squad was impeccable throughout the summer festival of football, Hodgson has had to deal massively with the fallout from the John Terry racism storm, which led to the Chelsea skipper’s decision to quit playing for his country.
Twitter is not his best friend, as both Ashley Cole and Ryan Bertrand have fallen foul of in recent weeks and then there is Rio Ferdinand and while Hodgson didn’t help himself on the London Underground a few weeks ago, Ferdinand has lost a lot of respect from many in the story that never seems to disappear.
However, a strong core has been built within the squad; the Three Lions are top of Group H with eight points from four matches and still unbeaten.
The only team to beat England in the last two years over 90 minutes was Holland in an international friendly at Wembley at the beginning of March. It didn’t get them anywhere in the summer.
That’s an impressive record and I’m sure many Premier League sides would be crying out now for an 11 match unbeaten run.
Montenegro have been underestimated
Montenegro’s excellent 1-0 victory in Kiev on Tuesday against Ukraine means they will probably be England’s closest challengers in this group.
Everyone seems surprised and before the group started, Poland and Ukraine were expected to pose the greatest threats.
To me, it is no surprise. Montenegro are ranked 44th in the FIFA world rankings, above the likes of Romania, Tunisia and Iran.
They have reached a high of 16th in the world in the past and have proven that they are no mugs at this level on plenty of occasions.
So far in qualification, they have thumped San Marino 6-0, drew at home with the Poles and the win over Ukraine means they are just a point behind England with a game in hand.
Their squad includes the likes of Juventus star Mirko Vucinic, vice-captain and Fiorentina ace Stevan Jovetic, Simon Vukcevic from Blackburn Rovers, former Manchester City defender Stefan Savic and Lille’s Marko Basa.
They finished runners-up to England in the Euro 2012 qualifying group, edging out Switzerland and Wales to the runner-up position.
Montenegro gained a creditable 0-0 draw at Wembley in October 2010 and recovered from 2-0 down a year later at home to draw 2-2, on the night Wayne Rooney was sent off.
They have created an excellent team unit and with two very winnable fixtures coming up in 2013 against San Marino and Moldova, could well be top before England travel to Podgorica in March.
They have been underestimated by many. I wouldn’t, they are a serious threat to automatic qualification.
Don’t write off the co-hosts
For Ukraine, it has been a disappointing start to qualification. After nearly winning at Wembley, they failed to break down Moldova before the home defeat to Montenegro.
They shouldn’t be discounted though, as they showed against England of some constant dangers on the counter attack and in possession.
Their current position of fifth with just two points is slightly false, although for Moldova to be above them wasn’t expected.
Credit has to go out to the Moldovans by the way. After their dismal show at home to England in the group opener, they have responded well with four points from three games.
Poland showed enough in Warsaw against the Three Lions to indicate that they will provide some headaches too.
Two points from their home tournament in the summer didn’t tell the whole story of some positive and attractive football played.
Both of the Euro 2012 co-hosts have work to do but shouldn’t be written off.
Qualification in recent tournaments for England hasn’t been much of a problem, excluding the debacle that was the Steve McClaren reign.
However, the job is nowhere near complete and with no control over proceedings, it means 2013 could be a make or break year for the England manager.
Friendlies with Sweden in November and Brazil in February are next up before away qualifiers in March 2013 against San Marino and Montenegro.
While it is a work in progress in such testing times for the England football team, the fate of Group H remains firmly in the balance.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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