Article: USA vs Poland Preview

And They Meet Again!

By: Alex K
Soccer City FC Contributor

The US and Poland are set to face each other in yet another friendly – their fourth since their Group D match in the 2002 World Cup – on Wednesday in Krakow. The Polish team is preparing for its first-ever European Championship in June while the Americans will experience tough competition on European soil ahead of its World Cup Qualifying campaign, also beginning in June.

A good showing for Poland arguably means more than one for the US, as the Poles have the difficult goal of advancing out of a European Championship group featuring the likes of Germany, Croatia, and co-hosts Austria. The US has a much easier road ahead; lets be honest, is playing Barbados really as challenging as facing Germany? While the US still has to win games in qualifying, there really is no question of which of the two sides – Poland and the US – needs to gel quicker.

Poland is boasting one of its best teams in recent memory after, for the first time in its federation’s history, hiring a foreign manager. Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker has molded the Polish squad into a team that is regarded as a dark horse in the Euro 2008 field from a team that has underperformed in its last two World Cups. The Polish side has no definite star – although Racing Santander striker Ebi Smolarek had a very impressive Euro qualifying round – but a solid team that plays great as a unit. The team, led by Larissa striker Maciej Zurawski, who was close to completing a move to the Columbus Crew in the MLS offseason before a deal fell through, is coming off 2-0 victories over the Czech Republic and Estonia and hasn’t lost since falling to Hungary in an October friendly.

However, Poland hasn’t had the most success with the US as of late. The teams have made quite a habit out of playing each other since their 2002 World Cup group game, which Poland won 3-1, with the United States winning twice – both on European soil – and drawing once in Chicago. On March 31, 2004, DaMarcus Beasley scored the winner in a 1-0 game in Plock, while later that year on a warm July day in Chicago, Carlos Bocanegra scored a late equalizer against a far from full strength Polish side. Two years ago in Kaiserslautern, the US once again defeated its Eastern European counterparts 1-0, this time off of a Clint Dempsey finish.

The US, which is now ranked behind Poland in FIFA’s always-questionable rankings, will be fielding a largely European-based squad in the game, as only Landon Donovan, Brian Ching, and Ricardo Clark have made the trip to Krakow from their teams in MLS. (Speaking of Krakow: this will be the first international game in the recently-renovated Wisla Stadium, home of the country’s most famous team and current Orange Ekstraklasa leaders Wisla Krakow.) For the US the game will serve as a precursor to the intimidating England-Spain-Argentina series prior to their World Cup qualifying series against Barbados.

As a Polish-American, I always have a hard time cheering for a team in these games, even though I love watching them. In a sense, you could say the game means more for Poland, as they have a hugely important tournament on the horizon, but the US is constantly trying to prove it can win road games in Europe. Ironically, Poland is one of the few teams the US actually has proven it can defeat in Europe. Is that the reason we keep seeing these games pop up? Who knows…I’m not complaining!