Portugal is going to play friendly game against Poland

On 29th of February Portugal is going to play a friendly game against Poland on the National Stadium in Warsaw.

Definietely going to watch this game, no matter what.

International friendly: USA - Spain 0-4 4 June 2011, video highlights

It was not a good game for US team. They looked surprisingly insecure in the first half and didn't seem to be as determined as I'm used to see them. The defense didn't help the goalkeeper at all, and Spain dominated the field almost completely. After the changes it looked a bit more even in the second half and US had even some attempts to score but didn't successed. Are they prepared well to Golden Cup which starts in the next week?

I expected something more from US. Still remember the game against Spain on the Confederation Cup and the sensational win of the US team 2:0.

US players ralery troubled Pepe Reina, who played most of the game in the Spain's goal. Casillas stepped in for the last 15 minutes. Wouldn't put lost goals on Tim Howard's account, he was without chances in all of those situations.

Spain didn't seem to have an excellent time lately. The lost against Portugal and Argentina. What's more it is said that the team is divided by the inner conflicts due to anthypaties between Real and Barca players. But still the are the Champions of Europe and of the World and also the leader of their qualification group for Euro 2012. It's still a lot of time before the tournament to regain unity.

Portugal - Spain 4-0, 17 November 2010 video

Video highlights of the friendly match Portugal - Spain. Amazin game. Poor Casillas was just helpless when Portugal kept attacking and attacking.

Eduardo played in the first half and Rui Patricio in the second. They didn't had too much work to do.



Iniesta's shot, 10', video.



The shot was off target, went on the right side of the portuguese goal. Eduardo didn't even touch the ball, but at least he is present in this highlights so I put it here as well.

Friendly games tomorrow

Two important friendly games tomorrow. Firstly, Portugal is going to face Spain. Does Selecção has a chance to win? They have a new coach, they improved they effectiveness in scoring, but the defense didn't seem to be as tight as it used to be during the World Cup.

In the last game Eduardo didn't seem to be as sharp as during the tournament, when he allowed only 1 goal and made 19 saves in four games. Will keep my fingers crossed for him tomorrow. He will need all his skills to try to stop Spain!

The second game I'm going to watch, at least partially, is Poland - Ivory Coast. Well, Poland need to win after eight months without a single victory, but I don't think it's going to happen tomorrow. Even without Drogba, Ivory Coast is a very good team.

Łukasz Fabiański is back to the team. His last performances in Arsenal's games were good. Watched Everton - Arsenal game last Sunday. He helped the team to keep the advantageous result. Everton tried to catch up with Arsenal's 0-2 lead, but eventually they manage to score only one goal, and it came too late. Hope tomorrow Fabiański also will do well, this time playing for the national team.

Poland and USA squads for the friendly at October 9

Poland

Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (AC Fiorentina), Grzegorz Sandomierski (Jagiellonia Białystok), Przemysław Tytoń (Roda JC Kerkrade).

Midfielders: Rafał Murawski (Rubin Kazań), Bartosz Salamon (US Foggia), Jakub Błaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund), Adam Matuszczyk (1 FC Koeln), Ludovic Obraniak (Lille OSC), Radosław Majewski (Nottingham Forest), Grzegorz Bonin (Górnik Zabrze), Adrian Mierzejewski (Polonia Warszawa)

Defenders: Łukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund), Kamil Glik (Palermo), Michał Żewłakow (Ankaragücü), Łukasz Mierzejewski (Cracovia Kraków), Dariusz Pietrasiak (Polonia Warszawa), Hubert Wołąkiewicz (Lechia Gdańsk),

Forwards: Andrzej Niedzielan (Korona Kielce), Kamil Grosicki (Jagiellonia Białystok), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Polonia Warszawa), Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund), Ireneusz Jeleń (AJ Auxerre)

USA

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)

Midfielders: Alejandro Bedoya (rebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones (FC Schalke), Brek Shea (FC Dallas)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Eddie Johnson (Fulham)

My predictions: 3:0 for USA.

Iker Casillas photos, Buenos Aries, before the friendly with Argentina

Vicente del Bosque and Iker Casillas.



Training session a day before the friendly game. However, Casillas did not play in the match against Argentina. Pepe Reina was in the goal in the first half and Victor Valdes in the second.



Pepe Reina and Iker Cassilas during a training session.





After the friendly game. Argentina won 4-1.

Tim Howard in USA - Turkey 2-1 friendly game, 29 May 2010, photos and video

Video highlights of the game:



It was the last friendly played on home soil before the World Cup in South Africa. It seems it was a classic scenario - US quickly loosing a goal in the first half, then catching up in the second and eventually winning. Wish I had seen this game.

Artur Boruc in Poland - Ukraine 1-1 friendly match, 4 Sep 2010

It was a little better than in previous, disastrous games (0-3 with Kameroon, 0-6 with Spain). Finally, after so many matches without a single goal, Ireneusz Jeleń did score for Poland. But then, in 92' one costly mistake and the game eventually finished with a draw... However, it was not the goalkeeper's fault.



Artur Boruc was back in the national team's goal after a long break. It was nice, to see him in good shape. He did fine. Hope it's not a return just for one match.

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.