England Make Report To FA After Clash During Poland Draw

Both Harry Kane and manager Gareth Southgate commented on an unsavoury incident towards the end of the first half

England captain Harry Kane confirmed that the team has reported a clash between Harry Maguire and Poland’s Kamil Glik to the Football Association (FA) following Wednesday’s World Cup qualifying draw. 

The Three Lions dropped their first points of the campaign in Group I as they were held 1-1 in Warsaw. 

Damian Szymanski struck in stoppage time to cancel out Kane’s second-half goal, but it was the earlier altercation that provided one of the game’s big talking points. 

What was said? 

“There was an incident just before half-time which has been reported to the FA guys,” Kane explained to  BBC Radio Five Live  after the final whistle.

“They’re taking care of it and investigating it and we’ll go from there.

“Allegedly it was something that was done, not said. We haven’t [had the] chance to look at the footage and talk to the lad.”

England boss Gareth Southgate was also guarded in his reaction to the incident, which earned both Maguire and Glik a yellow card after they went toe-to-toe at the end of the first half. 

“We’re getting to grips with what that was. There’s been a report put in and we need to find out a little bit more about what’s happened,” he told the BBC. 

“At the moment we’re still gathering all the evidence so there’s no point in me speculating any further.” 

Prior to the incident, England’s players had once more faced boos from the home crowd while taking the knee before kick-off, as had occurred in last week’s visit to Budapest to face Hungary.

FA response

On Thursday, a spokesman for the FA confirmed the incident is being looked at, stating: “FIFA is in the process of analysing the official match reports.

“The relevant information will be assessed by the competent disciplinary bodies in order to decide on next steps.”

The bigger picture 

Despite failing to win for the first time in their qualifying campaign, England remain well placed to reach Qatar 2022. 

The Three Lions sit four points clear of second-placed Albania in Group I, and could qualify with two games to spare in October should they win both games against Andorra and Hungary and have other results go their way.