England's team manager Roy Hodgson tests the field during heavy rain prior to the World Cup 2014 Group H qualifying soccer match against Poland at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012.Markus Schreiber/The Associated Press
Tuesday's World Cup qualifier between Poland and England was postponed until Wednesday due to a waterlogged pitch after the roof of Warsaw's national stadium was left open, a Polish FA spokeswoman said.
The decision was taken to rearrange the game to Wednesday following a pitch inspection Tuesday after an evening of torrential rain.
The Warsaw stadium has a retractable roof, but a Polish FA spokeswoman said neither of the team representatives nor the FIFA delegate wanted to make the decision to close it.
"None of the sides wanted such a solution," said Agnieszka Olejkowska. "We knew there would be heavy rain but we could not 100 perc ent predict the downpour."
With rain still falling heavily at the scheduled kick-off time, she said it was not possible to close the roof.
"We have a heating system which, if we close the roof, can dry the pitch in 30 minutes," she said.