Poland opened their campaign with a match against Slovenia and San Marino both games bring some succe s to the Poles.Poland vs SloveniaThe 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 cro s 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 Andy Pettitte Jersey second half, Poland coach Leo Beenhakker Luis Severino Jersey said. Slovenia surprised us.It was Polands first important game since the failed Euro campaign and they probably thought Slovenia werent 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 progre s 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:ukasz Fabiaski 13. Marcin Wasilewski, 5. Bartosz Bosacki (null, 2. Mariusz Jop), 14. Micha ewakow, 15. Marcin Kowalczyk 19. Rafa Murawski (null, 20. Tomasz Bandrowski), 18. Mariusz Lewandowski, 8. Jacek Krzynwek, 6. Roger (null, 10. Marek Saganowski), 16. Jakub Baszczykowski 23. ukasz Piszczek.San Marino vs PolandMatch two brought Poland up against the extremely weak San Marino(nullth 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 Randy Johnson Jersey ukasz Fabiaski 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 didnt 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 didnt 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 werent for a Man of the Match performance by ukasz Mariano Rivera Jersey Fabiaski 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 wouldnt surprise me to see a 3-0 win to the Czechs and a tough battle with Slovakia. Leo Beenhakker needs to lift his team otherwise they will be in Series trouble.Poland Line Up:ukasz Fabiaski Grzegorz Wojtkowiak, Micha ewakow, Yogi Berra Jersey Mariusz Jop, Marcin Kowalczyk (null, Jacek Krzynwek) Jakub Baszczykowski, Mariusz Lewandowski, Roger Guerreiro ukasz Piszczek (null, Rafa Murawski) Euzebiusz Smolarek, Marek Saganowski (null, Robert Lewandowski).Group 3 Ladder1 Poland 2 1 1 0 3 1 2 42 Slovenia 2 1 1 0 3 2 1 43 Slovakia 2 1 0 1 3 3 0 34 Czech Republic 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 15 Northern Ireland 2 0 1 1 1 2 -1 16 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.
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