We've gotta be able to scare up a few of these...I'll have to track down my Rochester-SamsArmy friends who also happen to hail from Poland for some translations...
The best article talking about USA is... http://sport.gazeta.pl/sport/1,65025,3184360.html Title: "Poland - USA: World Cup Test" Most of the article talks about what stregedy our players will use and who will play in goal, but does say that USA is a very good team, and noone should underestimate them because they proved they were real good in 2002 when they "outplayed" Germany in a 0-1 loss... so it says this is a very good test for Poland. Other top sites: http://sport.onet.pl/ http://pilka.interia.pl/ I'm sure more will come on USA probably tomorrow and Wed of course, but this is our first match of 2006, and with the great play of Smolarek and our European based players who are playing really good, most columnists talks about where they will fit on this team and also we have a goalkeeper controversy in the making with 3 guys who could argueably be #1 so alot of articles talk about that, esspicially Dudek vs. Boruc.
Jacek Bak (central def, currently playing in Quatar, formerly in France) was interviewed by Gazeta Wyborcza and asked about the US team he said that the Americans don't get enough credit for their soccer players, its true that we beat them 3-1 in Korea but they advanced and we did not, they made the quaterfinals in Korea and are ranked 7th and that makes an impression he remembers them also from the 1-0 loss in Poland and thinks they're good technically, very strong and excellently organized, you can't beat them 'walking or standing still' (meaning you have to run and work) if you don't sacrifice 100% don't even think of getting a result
You know what's odd. No matter who we play, the press always feels that they need to remind their readers that the US is a good team and it's a worthwile game. Don't fans know that? Polish soccer fans know what happened in '02. They know it's a good test.
It's just that people don't thnk of the US and soccer in the same sentence. Some things grow on people slowly.
Well I'm glad that if foreign media doesnt give us credit , at least some foreign players are giving us recognition to what we are doing here , and our improvement in soccer .
Im all for respect for our Nats but if we could get by one more WC with little to no respect thats somewhat ok with me. Maybe that way we could get the chance to really thump a team with WC reputation(Italy).
People constantly say this on BS. Portugal underestimated the US and see what happened. Maybe. But, maybe they just got beat.
good thing he wont be anywhere close to the starting lineup. hopefully. and yeah in this game America has the better defense. But, overall as a team. Poland has the better offense and midfield. When there healthy they should beat America and should get out of there group with Ecuador and Costa Rica in there group. I watch both teams extensively. Hands down America has the better defense and better bench. But, Zurawski, Smolarek, Szymkowiak, Krzynowek step out in my mind as amazing players and when there healthy it's hard for me to say USA will win. Nobody stands out for America. That can be both a positive and a negative. Maybe McBride sometimes but other than that. I know DeMarcus and Oguchi but even these guys still have alot of proving to do. Maybe America will do some awesome proving Wednesday. If they can beat Poland and play hard against the Germans. Then they are amazing and ready to play well in World Cup. I just hope their are no injuries and both teams do well in Germany.
Yeah but we did beat Portugal, and the Portugal-Poland game was the most lopsided game at the 02 Cup other than the German masacre of the Saudis. We were also the only team in the group to get a result against the Koreans and their homecooking officials. We had 4 points, Poland and Portugal each had 3, we deserved to go through.
yep no doubt about it. USA played a smart tatical group stage. I think the only reason Poland won that game was because they had the monkey off their backs. They were already out and played like they did in qualifying. USA deserved it, they came to Korea ready to play. You can't say the same about Portugal or Poland. I feel asleep watching Belgium and Tunisia before the Poland vs Portugal game. I'm glad I feel asleep. dreadful
flashback to a Japanese ref making a ridiculous call to take away Donovan's equalizer... $%*&%*(& refs
The Poland game was a very difficult one to prepare for because the Poland coach benched most of the guys who started the first two games. The Bruce is very thorough when it comes to scouting the opposition and preparing us for the strengths and weaknesses of the other team. He couldn't do that for that game and we lost one of our most important advantages. We have to hope something similar doesn't happen this year with Ghana losing any possibility of advancing after their first two matches.
Krzynowek plays in Bayer Leverkusen. Here are some facts about him. Krzynowek also scored 1 goal this weekend against 1. FC Köln Here some statistic about him He is one of our best players in Leverkusen: http://www.fussballdaten.de/spieler/krzynowekjacek/2006/
yes. I know this. But, I was saying they didn't show up for their first two games. Actually, the starting lineup of Poland in 2002 doesn't have one player the same as 2006. That's if Dudek doesn't start playing more and ends up starting. But, I think this is Boruc's World Cup maybe even Kuczak, he's been quite a nice surprise at West Brom.