Well at least the two "easy" games are behind us! :ph34r:

The second round of the World Cup group stages sees Germany host their neighbours Poland. As we all know, teams with “history”, no matter how much “in the past” are fated to meet on the field of battle and right the wrongs of ages past. For both teams I have included a retrospective view of the 1974 World cup, as this was the last meaning full meeting between to two teams… GERMAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM The German national football team is one of the most successful national football teams. They have appeared in seven World Cup finals, winning three. They have appeared in five European Championship finals, again winning three. During the existence of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1990, there were two German football teams: The East German and the West German team. World Cup and European Championship victories up to and including the 1990 World Cup were all won by the West German team. The 1976 Olympic Gold medal was won by the East German team. The team is currently coached by Jurgan Klinsmann, a former star. Former coach Rudi Volks, one of the country's most capped players (90) and the coach since July 2000, resigned on 24 June 2004 following Germany's first-round exit in Euro 2004. The replacement process was much more drawn-out than normal. After four prospective candidates either refused to entertain offers or turned down the job, Klinsmann took the job on 26 July. Then… The 1974 FIFA World Cup in Germany was something extra-special for Beckenbauer and his team. From the first whistle, the home fans expected nothing less than victory. The high expectations were something the captain was all too aware of, "when you are hosts, there is obviously twice the pressure, because everybody expects you to win". Gerd Mueller, Paul Breitner, Wolfgang Overath and the rest of the team withstood the pressure to make Germany winners for the second time. After the 2-1 victory over The Netherlands, Beckenbauer became the first captain to lift the brand new FIFA World Cup trophy after Brazil had retained the Jules Rimet cup in 1970. Now…. Germany, with home field advantage and a talented team that belies their world ranking (22), will be looking to regain the fear factor that used to be instilled in all teams facing the prospect of playing the “Dreaded Germans”. Perhaps highlighted on a fateful night in Munich (Don’t mention the score!), the German teams seeming invincibility was only matched by their fall from grace and the inevitable plummet down the world rankings. World Cup history Germany, pre-division • 1930 - Did not enter • 1934 - Third place • 1938 - Round 1 • 1950 - Did not enter West Germany • 1954 - Champions • 1958 - Fourth place • 1962 - Quarterfinals • 1966 - Runners-up • 1970 - Third place • 1974 - Champions • 1978 - Round 2 • 1982 - Runners-up • 1986 - Runners-up • 1990 - Champions Germany, post-unification • 1994 - Quarterfinals • 1998 - Quarterfinals • 2002 - Runners-up • 2006 - Qualified automatically as host POLISH NATIONAL TEAM Poland played its first international match on 18 December 1921 in Budapest against Hungary and was defeated 0:1. Poland won the Gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the Silver medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. In the World Cup, Poland has finished third twice: in 1974 and 1982. Then…. In 1974 team Poland entered pool play in Group 4, a quartet that might earn the sobriquet “mini group of death” in the parlance of today’s football writing. Poland handled perpetual powerhouses Argentina and Italy, 3-2 and 2-1 respectively, to bookend their undefeated first round of play. Under the rules of the old Cup format, Poland made up Group 2 with West Germany, Sweden and Yugoslavia. Gutsy games against Sweden (1-0) and Yugoslavia (2-1) lead into what would be the game decider (and with the benefit of hindsight), bookmakers probably should have considered this one a pick ‘em. Excepting the brutal loss to East Germany in the first round, West Germany had found themselves playing to pre-tournament expectations (and there was that darned home-pitch advantage); Poland had already eliminated at least three legitimate contenders and seemed an unstoppable scoring machine. Alas, it was not to be. A hard-fought tense contest was finally broken open by Gerd Müller in the 76th minute, in a water logged game, the most famous image of the which; still often shown on Polish television - A goal-bound strike from midfield maestro Deyna, was halted by a puddle in the penalty area. Polish dreams were dashed. Poland saved face in the often appropriately-named “consolation game,” with a Lato goal enough to give Poland the bronze in a 1-0 win over Brazil. Now… Poland; invaded and conquered in a matter of days by the German Blitzkrieg of 1939, will be hoping the team that nearly matched England both home and away in the qualifying stages, will be able to weather the storm and give a “Dam-Busting” performance to beat a team ranked only 4 places above them! World Cup record • 1930 - Did not enter • 1934 - Withdrew during qualifying • 1938 - Round 1 (top 15) • 1950 - Did not enter • 1954 - Withdrew • 1958 to 1970 - Did not qualify • 1974 - Third place • 1978 - Round 2 (quarterfinals) • 1982 - Third place • 1986 - Round 2 (top 16) • 1990 to 1998 - Did not qualify • 2002 - Round 1 (top 32) • 2006 - Qualified ROUTE TO THE WORLD CUP Germany. Greased the right palms and controversially beat off a strong African bid to secure the “host nation” status, preventing the need to qualify; probably best, as the team was failing to perform on the pitch. Poland. Scoring 10 goals in 4 games the poles won 3 of their 4 matches in the initial spell of qualifying games in 2004 (Northern Ireland 3-0, Austria 3-1 and Wales 3-2), losing their only home game of the year to England (1-2). 2005 saw another successful year with 5 wins from 6 games, scoring 17 goals and conceding only 4, again loosing to England 2-1 this time at Old Trafford. Their victories were: Azerbaijan 8-0; Northern Ireland 1-0; Azerbaijan 3-0; Austria 3-2; Wales 1-0. Qualifying 2nd to England after leading the group for so long, meant a tense wait to see if they claimed a best 2nd place finish spot, however with such an impressive run of form this was a mere formality and they were drawn in Group A, alongside the hosts. Q&A I would like to thank fans from the Polish Soccer Forum for the kind responses to my following questions; sadly none have been forthcoming from any German sites! How has the pre-cup preparation gone for each of your respective team? We haven't had much of it yet. We have only had 3 matches in the New Year. Zurawski, our star player has yet to even play in any of them to give you an indication of our experimenting. Given we had a few players making debuts and some regulars out, winning and losing didn't really mean all that much. Would have been nice for morale, but I think the players know they were the better team anyway. The key matches of importance before the World Cup will be against Colombia and Croatia. How do you rate this game in importance for your national team and its chances in the World cup? Considering most fans expect us to lose, not very! We are aiming to finish 2nd in the group unless Germany fail to perform, whereupon 1st is not beyond us! Who would you see as your key players both in defence and attack? On the attack it is definitely Zurawski, Smolarek, Szymkowiak, and Krzynowek. Frankowski used to be key but he is becoming more and more replaceable so I'm a bit hesitant to include him. On defense I would say Jop, Klos, and Bak. Although I would like to see different players than Bak especially they are who we have right now and if we are to do well we need them to do well. Who from the opposition do you fear will cause yourselves the most trouble? No one! We have a very strong team; sadly it fails to perform against so called “Bigger teams”. Our biggest hurdle will be convincing the team we can beat Germany! I think the match will do more with pride and confidence than it being important to us getting out of the group. That match should not determine whether or not we make it out of the group as we should beat the other teams anyway. What do you think will be the score? Germany 1:0 Poland Every fans heart says they can/will win the world cup, but were does your head say you can finish? I'd say it is almost a consensus at this point that everyone expects we will make it out of the first round. Considering we will likely play Sweden or England in a second round (should we make it) not many are too optimistic we will progress further considering we have had little success against either side. However, given the Rooney injury, or maybe some luck we do believe we are capable of beating them, but not many would 'expect' to do so. I actually think Poland has a very strong chance if we can get our defence together. This will be as close to home field advantage in the world cup as we've had in a while (not only is Germany our neighbour but many Polish people live in Germany), so claiming Poland will go far is not a long shot at all. Against England we played a rather timid game the last time we met, away from the style we were used to. Perhaps because of the fear we would not be able to match up against them unless we play defensively and away from our game (or perhaps we were playing for the draw I'm not too sure, I hope it is the latter). If we prove we can do so against a team like Germany (get a good result using the offensive approach we are used to), that will I think give our coach faith in us that we can beat world class squads using our style (which I think we could have against England) and allow us to continue to do so which will give us a better chance at surviving longer in the tournament.

Last night was mostly depressing!!! In the first half England were sodding awful, and Gerard resorted to a blatant dive in an attempt to win an unjustified penalty, shame on those who applauded it, now you can't bitch when some one else does the same against us...Oh and by the way it would have been a sending off for the defender in the WC! We were unadventurous, and boring the 1st half, the second was not much better save the goals but then we sat back and tried to soak up the pressure, a tactic that will fail us in the better standards we can expect in Germany. Also IMO Robinson was injured!!! Look at his clearance just before their goal, he makes a half-arsed clearance with his left arm tucked in to his body, and looking really uncomfortable, then their goal and his left arm hardly gets away from his body! I think he over extended his elbow when diving for their only shot (went wide) in the 1st half. I know Swen wanted to put only his plan B starting XI, but injured players should give way to those not!

I've got Togo! You lot?

Nevr got the PM dude! E-mail me... E-Mail Recived! Thanks

I have a number of shirt you are welcome to have, However I cannot find the address to send them to on your website! Help!

Eh! I did what now? I really need to stop drinking!

Ste, I sent you a PM with a copy of my review so far... I can no longer see it in my messages folder! Did you recive it?

I will take Germany Poland, If no one has beat me to it?

SAVAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chat room?

I am well chuffed with how the team has performed this season , however, the CL was always a pipe dream too far. if we get 6th I will be delirious, as long as we maintain our position next season. As for the CL/UAFA Cup, I cheered on both Arsenal and Middlesborough to their respective finals, and will be hoping they both win their cups, whether this puts us out of Europe or not! Yes we can have ambitions for next season, but lets not begrudge either team their only chances to shine in this!

1-0 brum

RAF ROVER isnt very happy with the decision to let the goal stand - his language is not suitable for this board however and he should consider himself told off and not to do it again - Flopsy Sorry If any one is offended but I am proceeding to chew my way through this keyboard I am still so wound up, oh work is going to be fun today!

setting off soon! Hope our performance of the last two games is put behind us and annother "Big" club are sent away with their tails between their legs! Heart = ROVERS 2-1 LIVERPOOL Head = ROVERS 1-3 LIVERPOOL

Got it in one! Liverpool and chelsea still to come! the CL dream is over for this season, UAFA the best we can hope for now, but with displays like the last two I would not rule out dropping to 7th place and getting nowt!

Had to come! Our denfending has been ###### poor! Only freidel has cept us in it!

1-1 :-(

Freidel Man of the match already!

I think because they did not make it to half time it will be a replay from 0-0! So sunderland gat a last second repreave unless other results bugger 'em up!

0-1 ROVERS Bellers!!!!

route one football went out years ago! come on rovers do what we do best and play the ball on the ground!!!

0-1 fulham, bye bye sunderland! Match abaondoneD!!!! Snow!

sounds like we are not in the game yet! Can't belive we have started with dicov again! Get pongole on!