Poland vs Slovenia
The first game began with the stronger nation Poland attacking early but Slovenia hitting the back of the net in the 17th minute after a penalty was awarded. Michal Zewlakow was the Slovenian that put the ball in the back of the net. The Poles were determined to win this one and equalised in the 35th minute when Zlatko Dedic put in a cross from Milivoje Novakovic about 10 meters out. They could not find anymore goals in the match neither could Slovenia the match ended 1-1.

The Poles were disappoined with the result with the coach having this to say:

“We are disappointed at the result and with the standard of our game especially in the second half,” Poland coach Leo Beenhakker said. “Slovenia surprised us.”

It was Poland’s first important game since the failed Euro campaign and they probably thought Slovenia weren’t going to put up much of a fight they got it all wrong. It is early in the group and every team has a chance to progress the weaker nations are really going to push to get results while they still have a chance Poland may have gone in with the wrong midset.

Poland Line Up:
Łukasz Fabiański - 13. Marcin Wasilewski, 5. Bartosz Bosacki (51, 2. Mariusz Jop), 14. Michał Żewłakow, 15. Marcin Kowalczyk - 19. Rafał Murawski (46, 20. Tomasz Bandrowski), 18. Mariusz Lewandowski, 8. Jacek Krzynówek, 6. Roger (73, 10. Marek Saganowski), 16. Jakub Błaszczykowski - 23. Łukasz Piszczek.

San Marino vs Poland
Match two brought Poland up against the extremely weak San Marino(200th rank in the world) in a game that was expected to gift Poland 3 points and lift the team spirits after Euro and the disappointment of the first game. Once again this was not instantly the case in the 3rd minute San Marino were given a penalty luckly the Arsenal goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański was able to save. The match was quite dull from both teams with no one knowing who was the amateur team with Poland just gifting the ball away in dangerous areas and providing very little attack. This horrible display didn’t stop Poland from scoring in the 36th minute Ebi Smolarek pounced on the keepers parry to poke home a goal from 6 yards.

The 2nd half was a better display by the Poles but the horrible turnovers continued it didn’t matter they managed to score in the 67th minute to get a two goal buffer.

The final score was 2-0 but some questions have to be raised of the Poles they were horrible if it weren’t for a Man of the Match performance by Łukasz Fabiański who saved a penalty and other chances in the first half the Poles could have been 2-0 down and in real trouble.

They may have scrapped out of this one but matches against the Czech Republic and Slovakia are going to be tougher than the last two matches with form looking horrible in wouldn’t surprise me to see a 3-0 win to the Czech’s and a tough battle with Slovakia. Leo Beenhakker needs to lift his team otherwise they will be in Series trouble.

Poland Line Up:
Łukasz Fabiański - Grzegorz Wojtkowiak, Michał Żewłakow, Mariusz Jop, Marcin Kowalczyk (28, Jacek Krzynówek) - Jakub Błaszczykowski, Mariusz Lewandowski, Roger Guerreiro - Łukasz Piszczek (88, Rafał Murawski) - Euzebiusz Smolarek, Marek Saganowski (59, Robert Lewandowski).

Group 3 Ladder
1 Poland 2 1 1 0 3 1 2 4
2 Slovenia 2 1 1 0 3 2 1 4
3 Slovakia 2 1 0 1 3 3 0 3
4 Czech Republic 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
5 Northern Ireland 2 0 1 1 1 2 -1 1
6 San Marino 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 0

The ladder currently sees Poland on top but they have played two of the weaker teams in the group the challenges will be agains the likes of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Northern Ireland to see if the Poles can make the World Cup.

UEFA is also considering playing both semi-finals in Poland and moving all matches of one group to Poland which were supposed to be played in Ukraine.

The head of UEFA Michael Platini is full of worries. “The situation is not as we have planned. The next three months will be vital”, he said. UEFA is worried and it wants to have an emergency exit. “Poland must prepare 8 stadions which have to meet specific conditions and then it will be allowed to take over the whole competition”, is written in the Polish newspaper.

However, his Polish assistants quit - Bogusław Kaczmarek (resigned himself), Dariusz Dziekanowski and Adam Nawałka whose contracts have lapsed. Who will be the new assistant and in the future will take control over the team after the present coach?, we do not know yet.

Here is the statement of the progress:

“UEFA believes that the project is being managed professionally, in line with best practises and in close co-operation with UEFA experts,” said the European body in a statement after the Poland leg. “UEFA also expresses its satisfaction that the project is fully supported by all political forces, especially the Prime Minister and the President. Both UEFA and the Polish government emphasise that the next four years will require substantial effort. However, if the project continues to be managed in the same manner as in the past few months, it will be a success.

With the President of UEFA backing the statement up:

“All activities in Poland seem to be on track. We have received assurances from the Polish government that the crucial National Stadium in Warsaw will be completed in due time, together with the necessary transport infrastructure. I feel reassured after this visit to the Polish side of the UEFA EURO 2012â„¢ project.”

Poland have made an early exit from Euro 2008 Injurys made a major contribution to this along with some other problems they are addressed below.

The reasons why Poland ended up with the group B wooden spoon, Injuries! Beenhakker lost two members of his 23-man squad before the tournament began midfielder Jakub BÅ‚aszczykowski and goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak both withdrew and had to be replaced after the team’s arrival in Austria, BÅ‚aszczykowski loss was major as he is a starter in the 11. Next was captain Maciej Å»urawski who picked up an injury in the first group game he was substituted and was unable to play again. He has a pivital part of the side not just as captain but as a goalscorer.

Off-field matters also provided a distraction. The players were deeply saddened by the death of Poland volleyball international Agata Mróz, who passed away at the age of 26, days before their first game. There was another blow when former Poland player Adam LedwoÅ„, who had played 16 times for the national team with many of the current squad, was found hanged at his home in Klagenfurt the day before Poland’s match against co-hosts Austria, aged just 34. “That also had a bad impact on the team,” said defender Jacek BÄ…k.

Thirdly, starting their programme with their most difficult fixture, against tournament favourites Germany, was always going to be a problem, although ultimately Poland as a team failed to deliver at the EURO because so many of their key players failed to deliver as individuals. With Żurawski and Błaszczykowski missing due to injury, Beenhakker needed others to take over and show leadership to the many young, home-based players in the squad but they failed to do that. Indeed the tournament proved a disappointment for much-touted players like Euzebiusz Smolarek and Marcin Wasilewski.

The poor performance of the players was also a major factor:
“We have two or three players who did not do what I expect of them,” Beenhakker admitted ruefully. “We can make a strong team but for that to happen everyone has to be on board. If two or three players play at only 80 per cent of their ability, we don’t have players who can take over. You see Germany, when [Michael] Ballack doesn’t play the perfect game, [Torsten] Frings is there to take over and compensate. If Deco is not playing very well then [Cristiano] Ronaldo takes over but with our team now, we have two or three players who drop to 70 or 80 per cent and then the whole team drops.”

On a lighter note real stars of Polands tournament were their fans. They earned praise for their vocal support and their behaviour – such as the clapping of their opponents’ national anthem in the final group match against Croatia. The real regret in the Poland camp is that Leo Beenhakker’s squad did not give those followers much to cheer about, with just one point and one goal to show for their efforts at EURO 2008.

As the tired supporters headed home, questions raged about their team’s display at the finals. Was it, as coach Leo Beenhakker said, a miracle that Poland had even qualified, or was it a disappointment that they had failed to recapture the form which made them so successful in qualifying?

Some of the positive things for Poland from the Euro were:

Roger Guerreiro: Roger scored the only Polish goal at the Euro and was one of the best Polish players at the tournament. Roger was confident on the ball, full of ideas and tricks and will be a key factor if Poland are to make the next World Cup.

Artur Boruc: Artur was super impressive during the tournament. Artur kept Poland in each of their 3 group games with outstanding saves. Was the best Polish player at the tournament.

The downside is the retirements alot of the older players will be retiring soon and who is going to step up and become the next generation Tomasz Zahorski and Adam Kokoszka are a couple of players but Poland are going to need 5-6 top players if they wish to qualilfy for the 2010 World Cup.

The match began with Croatia attacking heavily with Artur Boruc pulling off brillient saves to keep the score 0-0 at half time. This was against a Croatia team which had made 9 changes from their previous match.

The second half began once again with Croatia on the front foot this time they scored, the scorer was Klasnic in the 52 minute. Klasnic has recently undergone 2 kidney transplants.

Poland never really looked dangerous during the game their only real chances came at the start when they missed some headers.

Beenhakker said: “Maybe I can call my old friend Slaven Bilic and ask him to play his mother-in-law as a striker against Poland. But, apart from that, I can’t do much more. All we can do is try to win our game.”

If Poland beat Croatia they will have four points. In the other Group B game, Germany, currently on three points, face Austria needing a win.(visit group B explained)

“We are in the waiting room, and we know that, but we knew that would be the case after the Austria game,” added Beenhakker. “The Germany-Austria match is not in our hands, we only have the result of our own game, so we are focused on that.”

Bilic responded by saying: “Well, I’m divorced. He [Beenhakker] is a great manager. He’s playing games, of course, because they have a good team. They were almost equal to Germany in their opening match. They conceded easy goals but they had enough chances to score. They have a chance and they have a team, so he doesn’t need my mother-in-law.”

Bilic is expected to rest 4 players for the game against Poland saving his squad for the final 8.

Key Clash: Marcin Wasilewski v Ivan Rakitic

Rakitic, Croatia’s latest jewel, showed what a great talent he is against Germany, scheming away brilliantly on the left side of midfield. If right-back Wasilewski doesn’t keep in touch with his centre-halves, his opponent, once again, might have a field day.

More then luck will be needed for Poland but lets hope Austria can upset Germany.

Stakes couldn’t be higher for the Poles who need the win to keep their slim chance of playing quarter finals alive. Beenhakker had this to say:

“We have to put our effort into what we have in our hands,” said the Dutchman. “We can’t control events in Vienna. All I can do is plan with my players to try and get the win over Croatia. We are focusing on our task and then we have to hope things elsewhere go our way to qualify through the back door.”

Changes are expected for Croatia out of the side just check out the Croatia blog on this site Modric, Serna and a couple of other star players are out and resting for the quarter finals. Leo thinks this will not change things as much as people think:

“Croatia have a certain philosophy of playing and that will not change very much, no matter who is playing,” he said. “Positions and styles are more or less fixed, so it’s just a case of different players doing the jobs. I’m confident we have done our homework on every player in the squad of 23.”

Croatia are confident of a win or a strong performance and have stated that the team will be stronger than people are thinking and tell Poland to watch out.

All in all should be a good game and hopefully Poland pull something out of the bag just like Turkey did.

If Poland could go all the way to the final or if BÄ…k would continue to play after Euro he may still make the 100 but Polish records already have the legendary duo of Kazimierz Deyna (103) and Grzegorz Lato (100) over 99 but according to official FIFA records a number of their caps were awarded during Olympic tournaments and are therefore not accepted as full internationals.

Jacek BÄ…k on possibly making the magical 100:

“I never counted on playing so many matches for the Polish team; I’m close to the magic 100,” the FK Austria Wien veteran. “I had this plan to reach 100 during this championship. It will be tough, no need to beat around the bush. I’m just focusing now on the next match against Croatia in order to do the best we can, me and my team. I have ideas about finishing my international career after EURO. I don’t know for sure, I have a number of ideas. We’ll see; it will also depend on this last match against Croatia. I will make the decision after this match.”

The pressure will be huge in their final group game against Croatia with Poland not handling the pressure well in their opening games it will be a struggle but BÄ…k has other ideas:

“I believe in our team, that we’ll pull ourselves together, be mobilised, play good football and win a game during these championships.”