Poland, England to replay after weather chaos

WARSAW (AFP) –

General view of Poland’s national stadium in Warsaw. Poland and England are poised to play their rain-hit World Cup qualifier under a closed roof, amid criticism of the timing of the rescheduled fixture.

Poland and England were poised play their rain-hit World Cup qualifier under a closed roof on Wednesday, amid criticism of the timing of the rescheduled fixture and questions about why a storm was allowed to halt the previous night’s plans.

The Group H game in Warsaw was rescheduled for 5:00 pm (1500 GMT), a day after the tie at the 58,000-capacity Kazimieriz Gorski Stadium was called off when torrential rain flooded the pitch at the state-of-the-art venue.

To preempt an embarrassing repeat of Tuesday’s late-night cancellation, FIFA’s match delegate ordered the roof shut.

“FIFA decided to close it at 1:30 pm (1130 GMT),” Daria Kuklinska, spokeswoman for stadium company NCS, told AFP. “It will stay closed.”

FIFA delegate Danijel Jost postponed the match after a string of inspections showed the pitch was unplayable.

Fans were annoyed after being waiting for a stadium announcement that came after 10:00 pm (2000 GMT), an hour after the planned kick-off, while officials had already been informed.

“I’m not happy about this. But what can you do?” said 42-year-old Poland supporter Krzysztof Kujawa, who on Tuesday had driven four hours to cover the 255 kilometres (158 miles) from the northern city of Bydgoszcz, only to go home and return the next day.

England supporters were similarly philosophical.

“The feeling was not of anger but of bemusement and no-one knew what was going on, but I include the Poland fans in that as well,” England fans’ spokesman Mark Perryman told Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency.

A referee tests the ball on the watercovered pitch before postponing the FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifying football match Poland vs England in Warsaw on October 16. The two teams are set to play late under a closed roof amid anger from fans over the rescheduling.

Despite concern that visiting fans could miss the new fixture after travel plans went awry, Perryman said up to two-thirds of the 2,500 England supporters were expected to attend on Wednesday, given that many had booked a break in Poland around the original game.

Poland’s PZPN football association said fans unable to attend would get a refund.

FIFA’s Jost settled in favour of England following wrangling over the timing, with England wanting Wednesday and Poland seeking to shift the game to November.

“We’re already here. The flight can be put back 24 hours and, likewise, our fixture programme is always full for the next 12 months,” said Adrian Bevington, communications chief of England’s Football Association.

Poland’s staff, meanwhile, scrambled to reorganise the return of individual players to foreign clubs.

“We’ve had much more to do than England, who are playing away and going home as a group,” said Poland team spokesman Tomasz Rzasa.

The Warsaw stadium — named after the iconic Poland manager who famously denied England a berth at the 1974 World Cup — was purpose-built for Euro 2012 which Poland hosted in June with neighbours Ukraine and has a retractable roof.

The PZPN played down suggestions that the Poles were at fault for not closing the roof on Tuesday, claiming organisers could not take a unilateral decision.

They require a FIFA green light, because an open or closed roof could be considered as giving a team an advantage in certain weather conditions.

Polish fans gather for the FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifying football match Poland vs England in Warsaw. The two teams will play under a closed roof amid criticism of the timing of the rescheduled fixture.

Pressed over an apparent lack of contingency, PZPN spokeswoman Agnieszka Olejkowska said: “The forecast that we were given was light showers for two hours.

“Before the match, steps were taken to close the roof but in the weather conditions we had, it was not possible for technical reasons.”

Ironically, the rain eased sufficiently on Tuesday for the roof to be shut by 11:00 pm (2100 GMT). Staff opened it again on Wednesday morning to allow the bright sunshine to help dry out the pitch before a new FIFA inspection.

“The pitch was verified positively by FIFA at noon (1000 GMT),” stadium official Kuklinska said.

On Tuesday, veteran England manager Roy Hodgson had noted it was not the first time he had faced weather woes.

“When I was at Malmo we had a game with Ajax postponed at the last minute because of a snow storm and we had to play it a few days later,” he said.