[Zacxaviqer]

Will Poland stand any chance of defeating USA?
From the 2 matches Poland have played, They dun really look like a team that was one of the first few team that have qualify for this WC. Their perfromance is medicore and only Saudi did worse than them.

It is really Poland squad is inferior to Korea and Portugal or are they juz having one of the bad days? In term of tatics, players, technical skills, are they better than the States? Heard a rumor that Poland will field several sub in the game USA so as to let them have a taste of the WC. It is true? Are they going out of the WC without any fight, any win or any goal?

It is sad. Very sad.

 

[Prewitt]

Polish football has been doing worse and worse since 1982. We lack skilled players and this is mainly due to DISASTROUS coaching system in our country. No facilities, a very inappropriate work with youngsters etc... However, there live nearly 40 million people and football has always been the sport no. 1 for us, so we're still above the level of San Marino or Luxembourg. You can find one or two talented guys, but in the long run there's absolutely no sign of improvement. We may qualify just like we did last year, but sooner or later we must be disillusioned.

We definitely have less skilled players than Portuguese, so to beat them, we ought to have overplayed Portugal in terms of physical strength and tactical knowledge. However, it was tactics that failed in the first place. The same story with Korea game. They beat us physically and tactically. What was to be our strength, happened to be our weakness.

Personally, I have no idea about how the Friday's game is gonna be like. The thing I'm afraid of is that we may play it with no heart and determined Americans won't have any problems.

As to those reserve players. Engel will be forced to make a couple of changes as our central midfielder Swierczewski is suspended and defensive mid Kaluzny is suffering from a slight injury. The problem is that our coach didn't seem to bother about such things before the WC, so he didn't take players like Szymkowiak of Wisla Krakow or Radomski of Dutch side Heerenven. As a result probably Maciej Murawski of Legia will be given his chance as a defensive mid and either Arkadiusz Bak (poor playmaking skills) or Cezary Kucharski (striker) will have to play in central midfield. This is a big problem.

Other changes won't have any harmful effect. Experienced (35) Jacek Zielinski may replace Waldoch or Hajto as a central back and I'm sure he won't play worse than those two. One of the most talented Polish defenders Glowacki (remember this name!) could be given his chance as well. Perhaps Rzasa will be on for Zewlakow as a left back and he should actually have even before the first whistle of Korea game has gone. Pawel Sibik may play as a right midfield instead of Krzynowek or Kozminski (both left midfielders playing on the right wing so far), but it's doubtful as Engel doesn't trust him. In attack the only 'new' player could be Kucharski, although he is more likely to play in midfield.

We should expect a very open game. And no result will be surprise.

 

[Smoga]

Prewitt speaks words of wisdom. See Rzasa and Glowacki play on the defense, Murawski in the midfield and Kucharski as a third striker (I think Zurawski and Krysza will start, with Oli sitting). I'd like to see Sibik as well, we may need his lung power against speedy US players. I'm also pretty sure that Krzynowek will get to start (if Engel stays on as a coach, he will build his EC team around this guy). I want to see Majdan start in the goal, too. Dudek has already had his chance to shine on the world stage....

 

[Prewitt]

Honestly, if Engel once again goes for the same players, I'll begin to wonder if those who claim that manager Lubanski has his hand in the squad are right

Everything seems to be fishy now. Have you guys heard about "the fan-club of Iwan"? Hajto, Swierczewski, Waldoch, Kaluzny... We discussed this topic before the WC... Now Engel himself states that these players spoil the atmosphere in the team and have far too much to say. He claims they paid too much attention to commercial aspect of qualifying to the WC and forgot their tasks as professional players. Isn't it too late now, mr Engel? :devil: I'm not sure if he will have an opportunity to get rid of those names before the Euro qualifiers... Polish journalists want the coach to be fired as soon as possible...

 

[Lupi]

come on Poland, you can do it this time

 

[numerodix]

They seem to have woken up.... 2-0

 

[Marek]

finally a poland win......guys whatta about krysalowicz , definetly our best player in the tournamnet, always looking dangerous and making a couple of brilliant runs which unfortunatly he couldnt finish.

 

[Barlinek]

kryszalowicz or krzynowek?

Both played well, although Kryszalowicz seems a tad slow.

I was impressed with Krzynowek on the left. He will be a key to our future. Him and Karwan on the wings could be very good.

 

[Smoga]

I agree, we'll have a great midfield for the Euros! I think Krzynowek was the true star of the Polish team during the WC, and has matured to become a great player. I am watching the game for teh second time right now, and I really love they way Krzynowek hustles. I mean he is all over the damn field!

 

[Kerry]

Congrats guys on a good win today. It broke my heart until S Korea put the clamps on Portugal.

I've been hearing reports on the radio and reading posts on how bad the US team sucked. I think the fail to give credit to an outstanding performance by Poland. All 3 goals were beauts, your guys played with passion and panache, and they were tough but clean. (not like Portugal, the hacks)

Good luck.

 

[DacoRoman]

Good win Polska

 

[Prewitt]

Well, after the performance given by our 'B' team, Engel has something to think of.

If he hadn't been such coward, we would have make it to the 2nd round. His favourite players failed in all the friendlies before the WC. They even lost to our reserve team (5-1!). They lost to Korea, they lost to Portugal and only then he decided to change some of the names. And what happened? Zielinski and Glowacki are much more confident in defence than Waldoch or Hajto, striker Kucharski plays in midfield much better than Swierczewski, even Majdan is safer than Dudek

I mean, Engel had every right to choose certain names. But they failed. And he failed too.

As to yesterday's game, I think the MOM was Kryszalowicz. A bit too selfish from time to time, but excellent performance!

 

[numerodix]

Well the current generation will probably expire not too long from now. But remember the U18 guys won the Euro last year, that's gotta be positive. Not the Olympics, I know, but it's still something because we all know the youth standard in Europe is rather high, with France, Italy and Spain (perhaps also the Czechs) leading the pack.

If I could choose, I'd send the U18ers to teams like Ajax all over Europe where they could develop and make a name for themselves...