England’s focus is purely on the main road to Rio

Victory over Poland at Wembley will be enough to clinch a place at next summer’s finals in Brazil as the winners of Group H.

Anything less than three points, however, and Ukraine will most likely pip England to top spot and automatic qualification due to facing hapless San Marino in their own final group game.

That eventuality would, depending on results elsewhere in tonight’s final round of fixtures, leave Hodgson’s side with another opportunity to seal a place at the 2014 World Cup in next month’s play-offs between the eight best runners-up in Europe.

It is, though, something the England manager, buoyed by Friday’s 4-1 win over Montenegro, refuses to consider ahead of sending his troops out in front of a sold-out Wembley.

He said: “It is the exact parallel to the game on Friday. I knew only a victory was good enough, and we needed that to give us a chance of getting this victory.

“I still feel the tension and focus of this as a game we want to win. I don’t know that I should be particularly satisfied if we don’t win and know that we have the play-offs. We don’t discuss that, and I don’t think that will affect the attitude of the players.

“The attitude will be one of , ‘this is our game, our stadium, these are our fans, we are a good team and we are going to win’.”

The convincing manner of 
Friday’s victory over Montenegro ensured the weekend was a happy one for those involved with the England camp.

Hodgson had perhaps the most reason to be pleased, with the criticism that came his way in the wake of last month’s dreary goalless draw in Ukraine having given way to high praise over his calculated gamble to hand Andros Townsend his debut.

It proved a masterstroke with the Spurs winger creating the opening goal for Wayne Rooney and then killing off a threatened fightback from Montenegro with England’s third of the night.

Townsend was treated by the England medical staff over the weekend after being hit with a couple of late tackles, but the one-time Leeds United loanee is expected to be fit.

Hodgson will, though, be forced into one change with Chris Smalling or Phil Jones expected to deputise for the suspended Kyle Walker.

Considering how well Walker and Townsend linked up against Montenegro down the right flank, it is far from ideal to have to break up the two club-mates.

On his selection dilemma, Hodgson said: “I will keep my ideas about the team to myself for the moment, not least of all because the players haven’t been informed. Losing Kyle is a blow, especially as we lost Glen (Johnson) before the last get-together.

“To lose two right-backs is a serious blow. There are not too many countries in the world that can produce three players of the same quality to play in the same position and we are no different.”

For captain Steven Gerrard, 
tonight will be all about getting the result needed to earn a safe passage to Brazil next summer.

On a personal level, however, the Liverpool midfielder is set to pass Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 106 international appearances and move to fourth place on the all-time list.

Gerrard said: “It (claiming a 107th cap) will only feel good if we win because football is only enjoyable when you win. It is nice to pass landmarks and equal records as you go along. But, for me, it is the winning experiences and I would love nothing better than to lead this team to Brazil. That is my main focus.

“When Roy first gave me the captaincy full-time, that was the job he gave me; to do as well as we could in the Euros and then to try to lead the lads to Brazil. So, it will be a huge satisfaction from my point of view if we get the win.”

In his 106 appearances for England, there have, of course, been many highs and lows. Gerrard insists all those experiences have helped make him the player he is today and he admits memories of 2007 and the defeat to Croatia that ended any hopes of reaching Euro 2008 will push him on tonight.

He said: “That game is one of those that you are never going to be able to eject from the mind. That is why it is so important to seize this moment.

“Fortunately, Croatia was a long time ago and let’s hope we don’t experience something similar against Poland.”

To ensure there is no repeat, Gerrard insists the home fans – who will have to outshout 18,000 noisy Poles – have a big part to play.

He said: “We will have to be patient. England fans are very educated when it comes to football and they realise sides are going to make it difficult for us.

“The game is not going to be won in the first 15 minutes. That doesn’t happen at this level. If it is a similar game to Montenegro, I am sure the fans will be patient. The noise they created the other night was superb and I can assure you it give us all a huge lift.”