Poland
Friday, 06 Jun 2008 00:00
Unfancied Poland looking to sneak into knockout stages
Remarkably Poland finished top of qualifying in group A, one point ahead of hot favourites Portugal. Even more remarkably they managed to beat Portugal 2-1 at home but also managed to lose 3-1 to Finland and 1-0 to minnows Armenia.
Group B fixtures
Germany v
Poland
Klagenfurt, June 8th 19:45 BST
Live on BBC
Austria v
Poland
Vienna, June 12th 19:45 BST
Live on BBC
Poland v Croatia
Klagenfurt, June 16th 19:45 BST
Live on BBC
European Championship history
Euro 2008 is the first time Poland have reached the European Championship finals.
The man in charge
Leo Beenhakker took charge of the Polish side in 2006 after leading Trinidad and Tobago to their first World Cup. The Dutch coach has achieved considerable success in the club game, guiding Ajax to the Dutch title in 1980 and winning three successive Primera Division titled and one Spanish Cup with Real Madrid.
He then returned to Ajax and picked up the Dutch title once more in 1990. He was also briefly the Netherlands coach in 1985 and again in 1990.
Team forte
Beenhakker is a wily old fox and rarely picks the same team, which in theory means the Polish should be able to adapt to whatever team they are facing. Celtic's Artur Boruc is a world-class goalkeeper and will prove a tough task to beat.
Achilles heel
Inexperience. This is Poland's first appearance in the European Championship and the squad is hardly filled with household names. Up against the very well organised Germany and Croatia in their group, Poland may well struggle to convert their form in the qualifying campaign.
Player to watch
Euzebiusz Smolarek. The Racing de Santander midfielder scored nine times, including a hat-trick against Kazakhstan, during Poland's qualifying campaign. Named after the great Portuguese footballer Eusebio, the Polish star has a lot to live up to and fans will be hoping his rich vein of form can continue into this summer's tournament.
Having played for Feyenoord and Borussia Dortmund in the past, Smolarek is no stranger to the big stage and will be aiming to impress.
Chances of victory
Not great. The team will no doubt be on a high after out-qualifying Portugal but they have not been handed the easiest of draws. Germany will be firm favourites in group B and Croatia have shown their class on numerous occasions already. If somehow they do manage to make it out of the group stages they will once again come up against Portugal and you cannot see Scolari's men slipping up again.
The obvious rivalry between Germany and Poland has been stoked up to feverish levels ahead of their opening game on June 8th, with Polish newspaper Super Express printing an image of coach Beenhakker holding the severed heads of German capatin Michael Ballack and coach Joachim Low.
The game may well be one of the highlights of the tournament's opening week. It will also, most probably, be Poland's most meaningful contribution to the competition.
Squad
Goalkeepers
1 Artur Boruc
12 Tomasz Kuszczak
22 Lukasz Fabianski
Defenders
2 Mariusz Jop
3 Jakub Wawrzyniak
4 Pawel Golanski
5 Dariusz Dudka
6 Jacek Bak
13 Marcin Wasilewski
14 Michal Zewlakow
15 Michal Pazdan
23 Adam Kokoszka
Midfielders
7 Euzebiusz Smolarek
8 Jacek Krzynowek
10 Lukasz Gargula
16 Jakub Blaszczykowski
17 Wojciech Lobodzinski
18 Mariusz Lewandowski
19 Rafal Murawski
20 Roger Guerreiro
Forwards
9 Maciej Zurawski
11 Marek Saganowski
21 Tomasz Zahorski