First of all, without checking a map, just where is Gelsenkirchen?
A battle between Bialo-Czerwoni and La Tri.
Poland will be playing in its seventh World Cup. Its best finish was a pair of third place finishes in 1974 (in Germany) and 1982 (in Spain). Ecuador is in its second World Cup and went 1-2 before going home.
Wrapup - So Germany prevails over Costa Rica 4-2 and Ecuador surprises Poland, 2-0.
The Poles have pretty much a must win match on Wednesday against Germany in Dortmund. That will be the final match in ESPN2's traditional Flag Day tripleheader of World Cup matches. Ecuador faces Costa Rica on Thursday in Hamburg.
Ecuador really looks like the better team here. Faster, better conditioned, able to find holes in the Polish defense (which has been downright awful). They're a bit fundamentally weaker, especially with the set pieces, but I think Ecuador is definitely the stronger side.
I think I may head down to Little Quito for lunch.
Actually, I was thinking somebody might have heard of Guayaquil.
Once (about 22 years ago), I was flying from Seattle to LA on Braniff. The flight was the first leg of a Seattle-LA-Guayaquil flight. Or maybe it started at SFO. It was a while.
7. And the sad thing is that they are probably only the seventh best team in South America, stupid Andes mountains giving terrible teams a huge home field advantage.
I've watched about 10 minutes now. Looks like Poland has no trouble moving the ball through the midfield, but once they get close to the penalty box, they run into a wall of defenders that they have hard time penetrating.
The Guardian has a very nice "Follow Discreetly From Work" feature (http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006), that is chock full of very British commentary on the matches. For example"
"58 min: Ecuador have steadied the ship a wee bit. 'I am sure that Donal M O Brien's union jacks would go down a treat in Tehran's infamous Bobby Sands Street,' writes Kevin Kennedy, who I'm hoping is the guy who used to play Curly Watts in Coronation Street and recorded the No73 smash Bulldog Nation."
Actually, I was thinking somebody might have heard of Guayaquil.
Once (about 22 years ago), I was flying from Seattle to LA on Braniff. The flight was the first leg of a Seattle-LA-Guayaquil flight. Or maybe it started at SFO. It was a while.
"58 min: Ecuador have steadied the ship a wee bit. 'I am sure that Donal M O Brien's union jacks would go down a treat in Tehran's infamous Bobby Sands Street,' writes Kevin Kennedy, who I'm hoping is the guy who used to play Curly Watts in Coronation Street and recorded the No73 smash Bulldog Nation."
The section of fans they shipped in to cheer for them was NOT pleased. Er, until that one shot on goal anyways.
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