.The American Outlaws Blog

USA 3: Poland 0

My time in Poland was pretty much defined by this. I had orginally heard about the game and decided that I needed to get there by any means possible. It really wasn't too hard for me after all since I am living in the middle of Slovakia until July (I teach English at a high school here). I met up with a group of 4 other Americans through contacts on the bigsoccer.com forum section. One of our group members had secured tickets from the federation since the ticket process was all in Polish and quite a debaucle. There had been reports that it had sold out, and there was people telling us that there would be seats available. US Soccer pointed us to the Polish federation and they directed us right back. Needless to say, we scored 7th row tickets near the half line. We met up before the game to get some dinner and have a few drinks (I usually feel loosened up and ready to sing after a few brews). I knew I was going to have to be on my A game if we were to be heard at all. From the reports I heard, we were pretty much going to be the only American contingent. We walked to the stadium decked out in our US gear and started singing some songs. I have never felt so singled out in my life. I had also heard rumors that the Polish fans were a pretty rough crowd. So I had to keep my eyes out for trouble so I wouldn't end up under a few thousand Polish boots. We made it to the stadium with no altercations. Just Poles trying to outsing us. We were so out of place it was crazy. We were in a sea of Red and White. No blue in sight. We, on the other hand opted for more of a Blue, Red, and White look. Really outlining the odd color out of Polands Red and White duo. The national anthems were played (although the US anthem was played rather quickly) and the game got underway. Everytime the US did something good apparently we were on tv (as reported to me by prime US soccer supporters watching the game in Minnesota). The Polish photographers were also snapping pictures of us throughout the game since the 5 of us were louder than our section. That wasn't true for the rest of the stadium though. We had to pick when they weren't screaming to counter-attack. For the most part we had some very well-placed cheers and chants. After the game I switched game scarves with a Polish fan that asked me to. We left the stadium and decided to have a victory beer, then go to the USA team's hotel and see if we could catch a glimpse of them. We ended up seeing almost all of them and I got to get pictures with most and talk to some of them. I asked Heath Pearce how his situation was going at Rostock. He gave the classic "my coach doesn't believe in me so I am working hard to stick it to him" answer. It was nice to hear that. I hope he finds his way to a team that appreciates his services.

As for the game itself, I thought it was an excellent result given the current state of the Polish team. They qualified top of their group over Portugal taking 4 points off of them. Maybe they underestimated us, who knows. Many people were saying that Leo Beenhaker was going to blow Bob Bradley out of the water with his superior tactics. Others argue that we only scored on set plays. This may be true, but a goal is a goal. A converted opportunity is a converted opportunity. The object of the game is to score, no matter how it goes in. Say what you will, this was an excellent result that will hopefully give the US some confidence to take on true world super powers in Spain and England. A result from even one of these games will surely turn some more heads. Spain is sure to bring a nearly full squad to prime themselves for the Euros this June. England, on the other hand, will just have to saddle up and play for pride since their arrogance has kept them out of the Euros. I am not belittling Croatia at all because they deserved to get in. But I digress...The Poland win was a great result on Euro soil. End of story.

Until next time...