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The European qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup really hot up on Tuesday with a series of big clashes involving countries who would expect to make it to the finals in Brazil.

Poland v England might not be top of the bill – that honour goes to Spain v France – but it is one of four matches between countries that saw action at Euro this year, and the two have a tradition of tense encounters.

Their most famous meeting was the 1973 World Cup qualifier at Wembley when England battered at the door all night but could not find a way past Jan “the Clown” Tomaszewski until it was too late. That match ended 1-1, with Poland going to the finals in West Germany instead of England, but in reality the damage had been done four months earlier with England’s 2-0 away defeat in Chorzow.

That was the last time Poland beat England, who have since compiled a record of nine wins and five draws. Eight of the 14 games have had no more than one goal between the sides, and four of the six meetings in Poland have ended all-square.

Poland gave their home crowd some exciting moments at Euro this year, which they co-hosted, but ultimately fell short despite being in the easiest group. They drew 1-1 in their two opening games, against Greece and Russia, and were then knocked out in a 1-0 defeat by the Czech Republic.

The problem for Poland was lack of goals – their failure to score against the Czechs was the seventh match out of eight where they had scored one or none (the exception was a 4-0 win over lowly Andorra).