King, on his 25th birthday played in the anchor role for England for the full 90 minutes last night – an enforced change following the injury to Steven Gerrard at the weekend.
Previously, the Tottenham captain received a surprise call-up to face France in Euro 2004 after injuries had left a hole in the centre of defence.
The result, an assured 2-1 victory against the Poles has put into doubt the future of a flat England midfield in a 4-4-2 formation.
Although Carrick has recovered from an ankle injury, which had forced the midfielder to sit out Tottenham’s previous two games in the Premiership, he wasn’t fit in time to join up with England. But thanks to King’s assured performance, Sven Goran Eriksson would be unwise to revert to the system that brought the coach so much recent criticism. Carrick now has a better chance of successfully competing for a place in England’s starting line-up next summer – and now King has thrown himself in the mix too.
"Ledley was fantastic and it was a pleasure to play with him - It was just like playing with (Claude) Makelele — unbelievable," England hero Frank Lampard told The Times newspaper.
England climbed to the top of qualifying Group 6 while France managed the same in Group 6. Republic of Ireland’s 0-0 draw at home to Switzerland meant their hopes of going to Germany next year are definitely over.