Poland

www.poland.com

World Ranking 28

Squad

Team Review

I can’t see Poland going much further than the group stages because of the fact that their team has no real quality and depth and Zurawski isn’t firing on all cylinders I don’t think they pose enough threat up front and could struggle to score goals.

Star Man

Maciej Żurawski, has been by far Poland’s best player for a number of years now and with the team looking its strongest

for some time the country are hoping to make a big impact on the tournament after qualifying first in their qualifying group above Portugal which is a feat in itself.

Also check out who we think will be the 'players to watch' in the tournament

Tournament History

Match Reports

Germany 2 - 0 Poland

(Podolski 20, 72)

This game was marred by controversy as a Polish national newspaper had doctored pictures printed within in it showing Polish head coach Leo Beenhakker holding the severed heads of German Coach Joachim Lowe and Captain Michael Ballack.

The game stared with a buzz and both teams were trying their upmost to create chances but the first fell to Lukasz Podolski who took it with ease to take the Germans into a slender lead.

The polish fought back, but the Class of the German midfield pair Ballack and Frings really took a hold of the game and made sure Germany didn’t let things slip and in the 72nd minute Germany doubled their lead with another goal from the Polish born Podolski which he again didn’t celebrate.

After that there was only one outcome and that was Germany winning the game comfortably which they duly went on to do with Podolski picking up the man of the match award for his 2 goal display against his country of birth.

Austria 1 - 1 Poland

(Vastic 90+2(pen)) (Guerreiro 30)

This was never going to be an epic battle of flair and beautiful football but what it did conjure up was a lot of controversy. The first half hour was all Austria as they went all out trying to prove to their supporters that they deserve their place in the tournament which is what many a Austrian fan doest believe they had a few good chances to get into the lead but were not decisive enough in front of goal to make them count.

Then on the half hour marked Poland’s Brazil Born playmaker Guerrero rained down a hammer blow on the Austrian team by scoring a goal that should clearly have been disallowed as Guerrero was in an offside position when the first shot was struck.

The game didn’t offer little more for the fans as it looked like one goal lead was going to be defended by the Polish but then in the last minute English referee Howard Webb gave a penalty when Lewandowski tugged Sebastian Prodl’s shirt in the penalty area. 38 year old Austrian veteran striker Vastic lashed the ball into the net making him the oldest ever goal scorer in the tournaments history by a staggering 4 years and also claimed a valuable point for the hosts and gave the country of Austria finally something to cheer about.

Poland 0 - 1 Croatia

(Klasnic 52)

Croatia were already through and for them this game was only a formality leaving out 9 of their first 11 out of the team but it was quite the opposite for the poles who claim to have been cheated by English referee Howard Webb, in their one all draw with hosts Austria and need a win from this game to have a chance of qualification. Which is why it came as a shock that Leo Beenhakker chose to omit Euzebiusz Smolarek, whose goals played a massive part in securing qualification to Euro 2008 as group winners ahead of Portugal.

The game wasn’t one to remember with the tempo being slow and neither team fashioning many clear cut chances. It took up until the second half for the Croats to break the deadlock with a goal from Ivan Klasnic to end another defiant show from polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc and further boost Croatia's confidence before they tackle Turkey in the quarter-finals on Friday.