Heh, thats a good one LD. Made me laugh. I think some of the bubbles from the Coca-Cola rankings have gone to your head. I know US has a good team and so this will not be an easy match by any strech of the imagination, but if you think that Boruc will allow 4 past him and Smolarek will score an OG, then the only way to qualify your post is as a joke. Anyways good luck to ya, and hopefully its an entertaining match.
I hope Rolfe scores a hat trick playin for fire in 2006. I don't think it will happen maybe vs Chivas but against Poland? What's next? USA WILL WIN IT ALL 99.9% GUARANTEE
Looks like Zurawski is a question mark. If he doesn't play I want to see Smolarek & Franek as forwards!
I just read that on gazeta.pl .... man thats sucks ... Zuraw was in the best FORM from all the players
I know....this information put a serious damper on the enjoyment of the game. But better for him not to aggrevate a small injury than to have a major problem later, just for the sake of beating the Americans. And we all know how good he is be anyway, so why risk it.
Zurawski being out changes my view on things, I don't think we're going to score 3 or 4 anymore.... hope I'm wrong.
That sucks if he doesnt play. I wanted to see him score at least 1, but now we'll have to work with a new striking pair we might not score, and if we don't score we lose
It's OFFICAL GOD D^%$ IT from naszakadra.pl : QUOTE: Maciej Żurawski nie zagra w środowym meczu towarzyskim piłkarskiej reprezentacji Polski z USA. Napastnik Celtiku Glasgow narzeka na kontuzję przyczepu mięśnia uda. Informację potwierdził na konferencji prasowej w Kaiserslautern najbardziej zainteresowany. - Po rozmowie z trenerem oraz lekarzami kadry doszliśmy do wniosku, że nie warto ryzykować. Boli mnie ta sama noga, którą uszkodziłem w meczu z Anglią, ale nie jest to ten sam uraz. Nie obawiam się o swoją dyspozycję psychiczną i fizyczną, że od ponad pół roku nie grałem w reprezentacji - powiedział polski napastnik. Well ... in this situation I go for the LINE UP: 1st Half ..................Smolarek......... .........Frankowski............ Krzynowek.......Sobolewski........Szymkowiak.......Kosowski Baszczynski.........Jop....... ...Klos........Zewlakow .............................DUDEK............................. 2nd Half ..................Rasiak......... .........Niedzielan............ Krzynowek.......Sobolewski........Szymkowiak.......Smolarek Baszczynski.........Bak....... Lewandowski...........Zewlakow .............................BORUC............................. The reason I put RASIAK and NIEDZIELAN as FORWARDS at 2nd half because we all know that JANAS gonna say "They score against KAISERSLAUTERN on tue so I gave them a chance" also he allready said on Sunday that all four goalkeepers will play 45 min each, Kowalewski and Kuszczak played on TUE so there is DUDEK and BORUC left.
Well if he is slightly injured and the med staff think its better he sit this one out, I would rather see him skip this match. Better to healthy for the WC than to aggravate an injury in a friendly. Its not like he has to fight for a spot in the NT anyways. Here's the starting lineup vs USA from pzpn.pl http://www.pzpn.pl/?inf=7978 Jerzy Dudek - Marcin Baszczyński, Jacek Bąk, Mariusz Jop, Michał Żewłakow - Arkadiusz Radomski, Jacek Krzynówek, Mirosław Szymkowiak, Euzebiusz Smolarek - Grzegorz Rasiak, Tomasz Frankowski. Subs:Artur Boruc, Tomasz Kłos, Mariusz Lewandowski, Tomasz Rząsa, Sebastian Mila, Piotr Giza, Radosław Sobolewski, Kamil Kosowski, Andrzej Niedzielan.
Let's look at it this way: IT'S TIME FOR RASIAK TO SHINE! Maybe he can slot a couple into the Yanks' net and show every single one of his detractors that they are wrong and that Janas is right. Let's go "Razor-man"!
Poland looks to have had the better of the match through the first half. More chances created anyway, shutting down our rather short midfield. What's frustrating is the weather. It's a shame there wasn't better, it's not as bad as the friendly we had with Ireland four years ago in a monsoon, but it's not much better. Snowing all game, 23 degrees or whatever. You can tell that the ball is not behaving as players expect, a lot of troublesome first touches and strange bounces. Very disjointed game with Poland having the better chances, creating more, although the best chance looked like Dolo's free kick that just missed the post. Excellent game guys, and if nothing else, at least the scoreline echoes my expectations. Losing McBride has caused us to really lose all the fifty fifty balls in the air, nobody in our midfield or among our forwards has been able to win balls in the air, and that's played a key role in Poland's superiority (in my view) in the early going. Hopefully Convey gets on in the second half.
Rasiak proves once again why he belongs in the lumber yard. Slow, predictable, no imagination. I really hope this was the last time I see him in the NT be it a friendly or a competitive match.
Very well played first half by our team, came out flat in the second and paid for it almost immediately. Boruc has made the same mistake a couple of times for Celtic, and I'd say he's to blame for the loss. A mental mistake more than anything else, but Dudek would probably not have made it had he remained in goal. Is Boruc now out as our no. 1? Maybe...but we can't afford a glaring error like that at the World Cup. Second half was a foregone conclusion anyway, with the snow coming down like mad and Kosowski and Niedzielan, tired from playing yesterday coming in. My overall impression was that the score does not do justice to the game, as the US scored on the only clear chance that they had, and that we dominated play, especially the midfield in the first half. But being able to capitalize on their only chance shows that they are a very good team, and the fact that we couldnt score despite many opportunities in the first half shows that we are not as good as they are, at least not at this time. Positives: Complete control of the midfield in the first half (Szymek, Radomski, Krzynowek) Nice passing, good technical skills Negatives: Lack of concentration leading to the goal for the opposition Inability to finish (Franek & we really, really missed Zurawski especially in the first half) Lack of depth: same as above My quick player ratings 0-1: Dudek: 7 Not much work, but steady when required Baszczyski: 8 Excellent in the first half, dangerous offensively, tough on defense Jop: 7 Killing the Americans in the air in the first half, little less self assured later Bak: 6 Steady and physical when necessary Zewlakow: 5 Nothing special, but able to stop few American counterattacks well. Might have made a mistake on the goal. Krzynowek: 7 The guy's got class and showed it in the first half, but not playing up to his potential in the second half. Missed an opportunity on a free kick. Smolarek: 6 Fast, but not exceptionally so against speedy US players. Definitely not a good match up for him against Onyewu. Radomski: 7 Good game from Arek, tough and one of the reasons we completley controlled the midfield in the first half. Szymkowiak: 8.5 The best player on the pitch from either team. Everpresent, tough, skilled...a star! If we only had Zurawski for him to connect with...The one time that he messed up was on the shot that was blocked by a US defender in the first half; instead of going for the volley he waited for the ball which cost us. Frankowski: 5 Not a good game for Franek. Unable to position himself to get a clear scoring chance, and completely hopeless with crosses. Rasiak: 7 A very good game for Greg, I think. Didn't do what he is paid for doing, that is scoring, but showed some of his technical skill, and most importantly able to win nearly all headers. Subs: Boruc: 4 Cost us a goal, which is a big deal in the kind of game that it was. Steady later, but that one mistake was huge. Kosowski: 4 Didn't show anything, obviously tired. Niedzielan: Ditto Sobolewski, Rzasa: didn't play long enough Janas: 4 Terrible coaching job from the tactical viewpoint. I realize that Zurawski's absence turned his entire gameplan upside down, but any good coach should be prepared for unforseen circumstances. Bringing in Kosowski who played an ENTIRE game just 24 hours ago and Niedzielan who played a half was just silly, especially at his time of the year. Playing Smolarek up front later in the 2nd was OK, but not against Onyewu...jeez, I'm disappointed wth Janas tactics for this game. Let's hope that he's learning from his mistakes.
As an American with not a flick of Polski blood that lived in Poland for a few years, it's clear somebody showed the Germans how to really play the game tonight. Nice showing by Italia, not so Deutschland.
Good game. I thought it would be more entertaining to watch. I hope they fix the pitch before the tourney. It was terrible.
********ing great, im so ********ing pissed off..Boruc what in the name of ******** are you thinking, you've done that same ********ing mistake for Celtic like 2384324 times.
I thought it was just a tale of two halves. The first half you guys clearly had the better of play, although oddly I thought our side had the two best chances (Dolo's 25 yarder that sliced just wide, and Beasley's chance for a breakaway that appeared wrongly called offside). The second half I thought we had the better of play, the better chances, and if the weather had cooperated I thought our confidence suggested we might have added another goal (GAM and Convey looked particularly dangerous in the second half) but that is speculation at best. Suffice it to say I thought the absence of one of your best players, and the absence of Reyna to provide calm and possession in the midfield, and McBride to win balls in the air really screwed us up in the first half and then there was the weather and the condition of the field which just made things even worse. I'll take some solace in the win and the fact that the US is finally becoming a team that not only wins games it should win, and games it dominates, but also wins games it's being outplayed in (although I do believe we had the better of the second half). However, I don't think either side should take anything major away from the result other than to question why Poland wasn't able to do generate more chances in the first half (as I said earlier in the thread, team defense is a hallmark of the US Nats, and Gooch played terrific), question why the US was so thoroughly outplayed in the first half, and most importantly simply focus on who was able to shine inspite of the conditions and perhaps poor play of teammates and who wasn't. You've been the first team to make our 3/4's a-squad look pretty sub par since we lost to Mexico a year ago, so take heart in that, and the reality that your team is good, and should advance from your group. Good luck in June guys, i wish you the best.
Thanks a lot, we wish you luck too. You guys were the better the team in the 2nd half and took advantage of some of our players fatigue(which shouldnt have happened because we were that much closer but w.e) and mistakes(BORUC). You guys definately had more chances, but I feel that with Zurawski in there, we probably would've scored in the first half, but he wasn't, so that's just too bad. It was a good performance from the U.S...You guys are really well-organized, and when you play Italy, or even the Czechs, if they start being selfish with eachother, you guys can capitalize.