(CNN) -- In the end it was the clown who had the last laugh. In 1973, England prepared for a crucial World Cup qualifier against Poland, a team hidden behind the Iron Curtain of communism which had provided little footballing resistance in the recent past. The East Europeans hadn't qualified for an international tournament since before the World War Two. Their players were unknowns, presumed inferior. England, on the other hand, had won the World Cup on the very same Wembley pitch they were about to play on just seven years earlier. It was a team of stars coached by Sir Alf Ramsay. It was to be a cake walk.
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Poland are co-hosting Euro 2012 and are keen to show they are a leading European democracy
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Their current football team is at a low ebb but they enjoyed a golden spell during the 1970s and 80s
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In 1974 their derided team gained a draw with England that sent them to the World Cup
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Players like striker Zbigniew Boniek and goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski were instrumental
Boniek too felt that @placeholder's cause wasn't helped by having to play the hosts.
For the Poles, @placeholder is something of a coming of age party, a chance to show the world it has moved on from its communist past.