Aston Villa vs Everton 1-0 29 Aug 2010, Tim Howard photos

I've seen this game live! Finally managed to see one of the favorite goalies in real action. Will post the report with photos and videos later.

Poland is going to play next friendly game with USA

Read just a moments ago that Poland is going to play its next friendly game with USA team in Chicago, 9th October. Pity it's not going to be in Poland. Would definietely go to see Tim Howard live!

Ok, Łukasz Fabiański or whoever-is-going-in-the-Polish-goal too.

My predictions? 3:0 for USA.

Goalkeepers of the World Cup 2010 video slideshow

Wanted to put a video about World Cup goalkeepers, but I didn't have enough time to do this, so I decided to make just a slideshow with some favorite photos.



Music: K'naan "Waving flag".

Sadly the quality is not the best...

What is happening with those Polish goalkeepers?

Football in Polands seems to be reaching the very bottom. It's nothing new. It's getting worse and worse, and without serious reforms nothing is going to be better.

The system doesn't produce exceptional players. Only a few names of Polish footballers might ring a bell to football fans aboard.

For long time goalkeepers were an exception, thanks to the good coaching system, which helped to discover the talents. A lot of Polish goalkeepers started to make a career aboard.

At least it was like that a few years ago. But now it seems that most of them faces the bad time in their careers.

Artur Boruc has to compete with Frey in Fiorentina. The transfer from Celtic was a good move, but the position of Fiorentina's no. 1 is strong. He doesn't seem to be national team's coach favorite, so he needs to make really good impression to be at least considered.

Łukasz Fabiański, who seemed to be one step from becoming no. 1 in Arsenal, is again reduced to the second choice, as the coach decided to count on Manuel Almunia. Wojciech Szczęsny is third in the row. Tomasz Kuszczak has been waiting for his chance in MU since years, but there is still Van der Saar between the sticks. Only Łukasz Załuska in Celtic is now no. 1, but how long it's going to last?

I don't count in Wojciech Kowalewski, because I don't think he was considered to be a part of Euro 2012 team. He is not lucky, was called-up only several times.

There is also Przemysław Tytoń, a new face in the national team. He is the first-choice in Roda Kerkrade. May it be his advantage?

So far it seems that it's Jerzy Dudek who had the most sucessful career of all Polish goalkeepers.

Two years ago I could name who is the unquestionable no. 1 in Polish goal. Now I'm not sure who is going to be called-up for the next friendly match...

Przemysław Tytoń in Poland - Cameroon friendly 0-3 11 Aug 2010

Polish goalkeeper Przemysław Tytoń in Poland - Cameroon friendly.

Poland - Cameroon friendly 0-3 11 Aug 2010

I don't even want to write too much about this match. Instead of being happy of Euro 2012 I'm starting to be really afraid that all of this is going to be one big shame of Polish team.

I'm really not sure if a need of watching Polish goalkeepers is enough to stand 90 minutes of a poor performance both in defense and in offence. And the worst is that it doesn't seem there is going to be better. New coach, new players, new strategy, and guess what! Poland is losing 0-3 with Cameroon, a next to the last World Cup team.

They are a few players, who try to do something. I can name Ludovic Obraniak, Jakub Błaszczykowski, Robert Lewandowski and perhaps one or two others. But there is no team. No unity.

The goalkeeper postion is the only one the coach has no need to worry. Poland has a lot of talented keepers. But a goalkeeper cannot win a match alone...

As for the goalkeepers, Łukasz Fabiański could do nothing when Eto'o scored the first goal. Made one very lucky save when he rushed to clear the ball, and pass was almost snathed by Cameroon player (blame a defender for that). The ball landed in Fabiański's hands eventually.

Przemysław Tytoń was playing in the second half. Again, the mistakes which cost Poland two goals, were rather on the defense side. And when Poland lost the goal he seemed to be the only player, who still tried to motivate the team.

A few photos of Fabiański, and no a single one of Tytoń, because I couldn't find any.



Polish team



Cameroon team

USA - Brazil friendly 0-2 10 Aug 2010, Tim Howard photos

USA - Brazil was one of two friendly games I watched lately. Brazil played with a completely new squad. No Julio Cesar! Hope he is going to be call up eventually.

Two goalies in USA team. Tim Howard played the first half, did quite fine I think, and of course he had to yell at the defenders a lot. One of the Brazilian players tried to throw him in the net, and it could finish up with a lost goal, but fortunately the referee did notice it was a foul on the goalkeeper.

The one, who gave really stuning performance, was Brad Guzan, who substitued Howard in the second half. He saved three or four really dangerous shots.

Unfortuantely, it's not a World Cup, no dozens of photos, not even decent stats! Found only a few of Tim, and not even a single photo of Brad Guzan from this match.

0-2 is not a bad result against Brazil, but US was mostly defending itself, wasn't able to create a really dangerous situation under Victor's goal. Pity that Bradley's shot was an offside.

Can't say too much about Victor's performance, because he had hardly any work to do. Again the lack of stats makes difficult to make any sum up.





Pato was dangerous in this game. Scored at the very beginning of the second half.











This photo illustrates quite well what Howard thinks about the game.

Arsenal keeper crisis

Link to the article send by Monica08.

"Manuel Almunia has been left devastated after being frozen out at Arsenal.

Spanish keeper Almunia has yet to start in either of Arsenal's pre-season friendlies as Arsene Wenger looks to sign Mark Schwarzer to be his new number one.

And if Wenger cannot land the Fulham keeper, error-prone Lukasz Fabianski is favourite to start the season in Arsenal's first game of the season at Liverpool on August 15.

It leaves Wenger with the same keeper headache that he finished last season as Almunia has fallen out of favour but the club still does not have a first choice."

(...)

"Polish keeper Fabianski has started both Arsenal's pre-season friendlies and the feeling around the camp is that he is likely to get the nod for the new season."

(...)

"Wenger has high hopes for 20-year-old Wojciech Szczesny who the club believe can be the next big thing."

Read more full article: link

Legia - Arsenal post-game interview with Łukasz Fabiański, video and translation

How do you like idea of learning foreign language by watching video interviews with players and reading translations? I catched some Spanish and Portuguese that way, thanks to Monica08's translations. Can recognize some words now.

Here's post-game interview with Łukasz Fabiański, Arsenal's goalkeeper, given after Legia - Arsenal game which was at last Saturday, provided with translation. An occasion to catch some Polish, perhaps?

Wenger do Fabiańskiego: bye, bye!

The question is inaudible. Most likely it's about what Fabiański thinks about Legia performance in the match.

W ofensywie super, w defensywie... Powiem tak, przez ten pierwszy okres, pierwszą połowę, myślę, że narzucili wysokie tempo. - Great in the attack, but in the defence... I say, in this first part, in the first half, I think they put us under a lot of presssure.

Says "give us some space" and "bye, bye" to Arsene Wenger, Arsenal's coach, who passes by. Fabiański splited up with the team. He didn't came back with rest to London, as he is called-up for the friendly Poland - Cameroon.

Narzucili wysokie tempo w pierwszej połowie, chociaż sądzę, że my też również jako zespół nie za dobrze rozpoczęliśmy to spotkanie, tę pierwszą połowę. - They made the game very fast in the first half, but I think that we, as the team, we didn't start this match too well, this first half.

Natomiast druga połowa, Legia już mimo wszystko chyba trochę opadła z sił pod względem fizycznym i my to jakoś wykorzystaliśmy. - On the contrary the second half, when Legia started losing strenghts, the shape, we made use of it.

Mecz stał się bardzo otwarty. - The match (game) became very open.

Padło jedenaście bramek. - Eleven goals were scored.

Another question almost inaudible. Seems that the journalist asks if he is happy of his performance.

Nie, no wiadomo, że druga bramka... Co do pierwszej, co do trzeciej... Ktoś mi podstawił nogę, nie wiem czy to był mój zawodnik, czy... - Well, about that second goal... That first one, and the third one... Someone tripped me up, I don't know if it was my own player, or... [I think it was one of Arsenal players, it seems so in the video highlights]

Później rozmawiałem z sędzią, sędzia mówił, że zostałem przyblokowany. Mówię, że nie zostałem przyblokowany, bo ruszyłem do piłki i w ostatnim momencie ktoś mi po prostu podstawił nogę. - I talked to the refeere later. The refeere told that I was blocked. I said I was not blocked, I rushed to clear the ball and in the last moment someone had just tripped me up.

Więc to na pewno kładzie cień na moją grę w dzisiejszym spotkaniu, natomiast te dwie pierwsze... Znaczy, pierwsza i trzecia bramka... ciężko było cokolwiek zrobić. - Well, for sure it casts shadows on my today's performance, but those two first goals... I mean, that first and third goal... It was hard to do anything.

Legia vs Arsenal 5-6 7 Aug 2010 video of all goals

A match with 11 goals on the opening match in the new stadium of Legia Warsaw. Would you believe that?

After watching the video I noticed it's look like a compliation of goalkeepers' mistakes. Fabiański doesn't look good when Legia scored their second goal. They actually started winning 3:0, and then lost the lead.

Read that Wojciech Szczęsny, who substitued Fabiański in the second half, made an important save at the beginning but it's not in the video. Generally it seems that Szczęsny made quite good impression, despite allowing two goals. Fabiański couldn't do much in two of three situations.

Marijan Antolović and Kostiantyn Machnowski, Legia's goalkeepers, gave a performance far from being good, which partly explains why so many goals were scored.

7th stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Andre Greipel of HTC-Columbia won in Kraków, exactly in the same way as a year ago. That stage finished 67. Tour de Pologne.

Daniel Martin of Garmin-Transistors won the general classification. It's the biggest achievement in career of 24-year-old.

Jacek Morajko, the Poland's Champion, was in three-men break, but the last of the riders was catched up on the rounds in Kraków, and again it was finish of the whole peleton.

Two Poles finished the race in the best ten. Sylwester Szmyd of Liquigas was 6th, Marek Rutkiewicz of Polska BGŻ on 7th place.

Johnny Hoogerland of Vacansoleil won both the mountain classification.
and intermediate sprints classification. Allan Davies of Astana won the points classification. Garmin-Transitions was named the best team.

Sadly, it's another Tour de Pologne without any victory of Polish cyclist.

If you look on the budget of the teams which take part in the race and compare it with our modest one, we can say that we did our work well. I'm very, very happy how of the lads' performance", said Piotr Wadecki, the coach of the Team Polska BGŻ.

Poland has no professional ProTour team. The Polish national team always gets a wild card for Tour de Pologne.

The national team consisted of two country groups CCC Polsat Polkowice and Mróz Active Jet. They cooperated effectively with each other. They made one team.

The World Championships in Melbourne are coming. However, any of the Poles, who were called-up to the national team, is not going to go there, as the coach decided that only those who are a part of foreign group can prepare to the Championships sucessfully. The season in Poland finishes with Tour de Pologne, save for a few short races. Apparently it's not enough practise.

It was a fine race, and I'm happy I could watch all of it. Looking forward to 68. Tour de Pologne!

Photo of the day: little football fans

Goleo, the mascot of World Cup 2006 in Germany and Leão, the Sporting Lisboa mascot. Those two little guys watch all matches with me. Both are dear to me as they both were gifts.

Łukasz Fabiański picspam

Read today rumours that Arsene Wegner want to bring Pepe Reina to Arsenal. Well, I think that it's not going to be Reina, but eventually there is going to be a new goalkeeper in Arsenal and Almunia is going to leave.

Some photos of Łukasz Fabiański from various matches.







Cardiff City vs Arsenal, 25 Jan 2009



Villareal vs Arsenal, 7 Apr 2010. Fabiański substitues Manuel Almunia in the first half. Remember this match, watched it in tv. Almunia was doing pretty good in the first leg match. In the second leg was tretead pretty hard by Villareal players and in the result injuried.







Arsenal vs Chelsea, 18 April 2009. I remember also this one, unfortunately. It was his birthday, the match took place at Wembley, which is something like a sentimental memory for Polish people.

Poland played elimination match againt England there, at 17 October 1973. The match was hard, but Poland managed to draw 1:1 with England, and Jan Tomaszewski who was in the Polish goal was invincible, except for the penalty kick. Poland made to the World Cup, what was a sensation, and Tomaszewski was named "The man, who stopped England" and "The hero of Wembley", greatly impressing the people not only in Poland but also football fans aboard. And one of English coaches called Tomaszewski "a clown" earlier...

What it has to do with Fabiański? For sure he wanted his prefromance to be as impressive as compatriot. But it was not his day, he commited several mistakes and genearally gave rather poor performance.









Liverpool vs Arsenal, 21 Apr 2009





Manchester City vs Arsenal, 2 Dec 2009. Helping Emmanuel Adebayor to his feet.







Arsenal vs Chelsea, 10 May 2010

6th stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Everything was to be decided on this stage. Today it's much easier one, and it's most unlikely there is going to be a bigger change in the general classification.

The stage started in Oświęcim. A symbolical moment when the peleton stopped by the gate of Auschwitz concentration camp, built and operated in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. The cyclist laid white roses under the gate to mark a 65. anniversary of liberation the surviving prisoners and the city.



The route was really hard. A lot of cyclist stayed behind the main group, several dozens of riders. There were breaks on the last kilometers, but there were not succesful.

But it was so close! Marek Rutkiewicz of Team Poland BGŻ made a break from the peleton 15 km before the finishing line. He was leading very long, crossed the finishing line first on the next to the last lap, but the peleton catched him up soon.

Watch the video of Rutkiewicz's break here: link.

Eventaully it was Bauke Mollema of Rabobank who crossed the finishing line first. There was no chage of the lider of the general classification, however, and Daniel Martin of Garmin-Transistors is the most likely to win the race. Seems the Poles have to wait another year!

Watch the video of Mollema's finish: link

The best of Poles was Sylvester Szmyd of Liquigas. He is 6th in the general classification. He was dissapointed how everything tuned out.

"I'm sad. I though that I had a chance, that I could do what Mollema did. (...) On the contrary to what I expected, todays stage was harder than yesterdays."

He criticized the lone break of Marek Rutkiewicz.

"It was without a chance. It was obvious that the cyclits of the lider's group will take after him, as well as Lampre and Caisse d'Epargne. It might looked cool, nice in the tv, but it would be a miracle if "Rutek" crossed the finishing line first.

Hope both Szmyd and Rutkiewicz are going to be among the best ten participatns of the race, but, well, in the road bicycle races only the first place really counts.

5th stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Daniel Martin of Garmin-Transitions team won the 5th stage. He made an sucessful break from the group of cyclist on a particulary steep uphill road, a few km before the finishing line and didn't gave up the lead.

Two Polish riders were in the first ten. Sylwester Szmyd (Liquigas) was third and Marek Rutkiewicz (Polska BGŻ) was eight. They still count in the competition for winning the general classification.

Amzing speed on the downhill rides... Up to 110 km/h. Unbelieveable.

Emirates Cup: Arsenal vs Milan 1-1, Fabiański played in the match

Watched Arsenal - Milan game, which was a part of Emirates Cup. Łukasz Fabiański was in the goal. I think he did fine. Made 2 saves, one in the last minutes of the game. Was extremely lucky in two situations, when the ball bounced off bar.

Wojciech Szczęsny, another Polish goalkeeper, was on the bench. No place for Manuel Almunia in the squad.

To be honest, Milan goalkeeper, Christian Abbiati had much more work to do than Fabiański. Abbiati made 6 saves, two of them very lucky (a shot, and then a retake). He can't be sure about his place in the squad too, as will have to compete with Marco Amelia in this season.

Back to Fabiański and his chance to be no. 1... I don't think Manuel Almunia is going to stay as no. 1 in Arsenal, but I'm also not sure about Łukasz Fabiański. Arsene Wenger makes an impression that he did not made a decision yet, but I wonder if he is not going to bring another goalkeeper to replace Almunia or someone else. I would really want Łukasz to play as no. 1, if not in Arsenal, then in other club. He didn't had the best season, but he suffered an injury and was not in the good shape. I think he can't wait any longer, he needs to play regularry, especially if he wants to play in the national team.

At 7th Arsenal is going to play friendly with Legia Warszawa, former club of Łukasz Fabiański. It's reported that almost all tickets are already sold out. Wish I could seen this match! Wonder if Fabiański will be in the starting 11.

Then he is going to by a part of the squad for the friendly with Cameroon at 11th August. Looking forward to see him in the goal.

No photos of the goalkeepers from the Arsenal - Milan game, unfortunately. It's not a World Cup, when one has dozens of goalkeepers photos no matter what game it was.

4th stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

An unusual situaiton happened today. One of the riders, Marco Marcato, though that was first to finish the stage but he was unawara that it was still one lap to ride. He had to be very dissapointed when immedietly after crossing the line he found out that he misjudged how many round was ahead of him.

Eventually it was Mirco Lorenzetto of Lampre group who won today. The last meters were not easy, as the street was paved with cobblestone. For some time one of Polish riders, Marek Rutkiewicz was on good position, but eventually he finished on 10th place.

Mountains stage had begun and the Tour is getting harder and harder. Tomorrow the most important stage. Who gets the good result is most likely to win the whole race. Keep my fingers crossed for Polish cyclists, especially for Marek Rutkiewicz!

3rd stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Jauheni Hutarowicz of FDJeux team won the 3rd stage of the race.

The averange speed on rounds in Katowice was no slower than 50 km/h. Amazing.

It was interesting to see a group of sprinters trying to break from the peleton on one of the last laps. They didn't successed, however, and again the whole peleton was finishing the stage together.

The peleton crossed the finishing line so fast. It was said the speed was 80 km/h. Unimaginable to ride a bicycle so fast!

2nd stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

This time peleton crossed the line in full squad. German cyclist Andre Greipel of HTC-Columbia team won in Dąbrowa Górnicza.

Kept my fingers crossed for the break, because two Poles took part in it. Four riders separated from the rest at 15 km.

Marcin Sapa of Lampre team and Bartłomiej Matysiak of Polish national team tried to reach the finishing line before the peleton even when two other riders gave up. They effort was fruitless, as the peleton was dereminted to catch the break, and sucessed when there was only few km to the finishing line.

Remember that once, before TdP was made a part of UCI ProTour, Marcin Sapa won in Olsztyn, after a sucessful break he ride together with other Polish cyclist. It was also the 2nd stage, the longest. This time, however, he didn't had enough luck.

Interesting stage tomorrow, much shorter than todays, good for sprinters.

Jacopo Guarnieri won the 1st stage of 67. Tour de Pologne

Jacopo Guarnieri of Liquigas-Doimo team won the first stage. of the race

It seemed whole peleton is going to cross the finish ling but a crash occured roughly 2 km before it. Almost all cyclists were stopped, except for 20 riders.

Good start of Polish national team. Błażej Janiaczyk took part in four-men break and won Intermediate Sprints Classification. Near the end of the race Łukasz Bodnar tried his luck and won Mountains classification.

Tomorrow the longest stage, from Rawa Mazowiecka to Dąbrowa Górnicza - 240.0 km (149.1 mi).