Stoke City: Tony Pulis left stunned by England vs Poland postponement as Ryan Shawcross waits in Warsaw
STOKE boss Tony Pulis admits he was flabbergasted by the postponement of England's World Cup qualifier in Poland last night – but isn't unduly worried about any disruption for Ryan Shawcross ahead of his return to Old Trafford on Saturday.
Shawcross and the rest of the England squad have been forced to remain in Poland for an extra day after several hours of rainfall left the pitch unplayable at the Stadion Narodowy here in Warsaw.
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The heavily waterlogged pitch in Warsaw last night.
The game is due to be re-staged at 5pm local time today after the Polish authorities controversially failed to close the retractable roof on their recently-built national stadium.
Pulis, who was tuning in just in case Shawcross made his long-awaited senior England debut, admits to sharing the frustration of millions of fellow TV viewers.
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"I hadn't watched the build-up and just switched on to see the kick-off," he explained, "and couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"You can't believe that if they have a roof and the rain is coming down they haven't prepared for it.
"But you can't do anything about it now and I've got no worries about Ryan ahead of Saturday."
He hopes Shawcross will arrive back in England tonight and be able to report in as normal for training tomorrow afternoon.
"We're training in the afternoon rather than the morning, so that gives him a bit of extra time," said Pulis.
"In the old days they used to play internationals on the Wednesday anyway, so it's nothing new really.
"And with Saturday in mind, I suppose you could look at it we've got one player out there and United have got four."
STOKE duo Marc Wilson and Jonathan Walters enjoyed a more profitable evening as they both scored in the Republic of Ireland's 4-1 win in the Faroe Islands.
Comments
by timbstoke
Wednesday, October 17 2012, 11:36PM
“Not only do we have the advantage of only having 1 (unplayed) international to Man U's 4, they also have a Tuesday match to consider, which Sir Alex will undoubtedly take into account when choosing his team. Saturday is very much a winnable game for us, especially given our form so far this season.”
by Si1963
Wednesday, October 17 2012, 11:28PM
“PP doesn't live in America. Just look at the time stamps on all his postings. That's right isn't it Alan?”
by The_Locksmith
Wednesday, October 17 2012, 4:06PM
“That pitch reminded me of when we played Sunderland at the Vic in 86/87 - the pitch was so waterlogged it was dangerous. I reckon the only reason it went ahead was because Sunderland brought down a big crowd, especially for a midweek game. I was telling the missus this last night when Lee Dixon popped up on the telly - he of course scored in that 3-0 win that night. Just had a look on Wikipedia, there were only 9420 there that night - how times have changed!”
by JohnStoke
Wednesday, October 17 2012, 3:28PM
“What a farce!, watching that ref. throwing the ball around the pool, sorry pitch, was hilarious. Hodgson tried to get an umbrella but they had all been nicked by a previous England manager.”
by potterforlife
Wednesday, October 17 2012, 3:23PM
“You do know who Childs is dont you soccerfoot? - Just asking!”
by PeterPotter
Wednesday, October 17 2012, 3:04PM
“Latthink, it was comical to watch. No roof closing, the ref coming out every 20 minutes to kick (splash)the ball around, then 2 fellas coming out with some magic box to check lord knows what on the turf. All while Roy looked bemused (as did we all) on the sideline”
by Latthink
Wednesday, October 17 2012, 2:45PM
“TP don't take much stunning, it was a lot harder for Childs and Co!
Such was the degree of stupidity surrounding this event I very much doubt if Poland really wanted to play???”
by Glennard
Wednesday, October 17 2012, 2:20PM
“What exactly is TP "stunned" about - the fact that you need the green stuff on the deck in order to pass the ball about on?”