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Looking at the stats, I'm quite happy and confident - Poland not only runs faster (29.29 kph compared to Austrian 27.12 kph) but also further (108.426 km to 197.858 km). Almost every Polish player has been faster than the corresponding Austrian player - even the goalkeeper Artur Boruc has been faster than Jurgen Macho.

Of course the speed is not everything - let's take a look at...

End Of Match: Three German pussies celebrate the victory

Polish players are in Donaueschingen and they compete for the right to go to EURO 2008. 23 out of 26 will get their place in the team. To be more precise - 23 out of 27, because Leo Beenhakker asked 18-year-old Wojciech Szczęsny from Arsenal to play in the preparation camp as second goalkeeper (Artur Boruc [Celtic] still fights for the crown of Scottish Premier League and Tomasz Kuszczak [Manchester United] is in Moscow, preparing to UEFA Champions League final against Chelsea and Wojciech Kowalewski [Korona Kielce] resigned from being a substitute goalkeeper due to family issues).

We will see more key players on Thursday - Ebi Smolarek, Mariusz Lewandowski, Jakub Błaszczykowski and Jacek Krzynówek. They can feel confident about their places in the team. Same stands for Bąk, Żewłakow and Wasilewski.

One of the players that can't be sure his place in the team, Marek Saganowski, says:

Leo Beenhakker has decided, that Arkadiusz Radomski, Artur Wichniarek, Dawid Janczyk, Lukasz Piszczek, Michal Golinski and Wojciech Kowalewski will not go to Donaueschingen for preparation camp before EURO 2008. Without three strikers, it seems that Poland is not going to be very dangerous offensively.

Here's what Leo Beenhakker said after announcing his decision:

1. Team welfare. Making any decision, I've been refering to what's the best for the team. I've done my best to make this group of players a real team. A team, in which there is full understanding and good coordination.

2. Skills of the players.

3. Team balance. In several cases I had three great players for one postion, but I knew that I can take only two of them - the main player and his substitute.

4. Physical and...

Although the official deadline of presentind the squad for EURO 2008 is 28 May, Leo Beenhakker has announced 31 players that he will consider when making the final decision.

Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United), Łukasz Fabiański (Arsenal), Wojciech Kowalewski (Kolporter Korona Kielce)

Really, no one would expect anything else here. The first three will probably go to EURO, I reckon, and Kowalewski will stay in Poland.

Defenders: Jacek Bąk (Austria Wien), Arkadiusz Radomski (Austria Wien), Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht Brussels), Paweł Golański (Steaua Bucuresti), Mariusz Jop (FK Moscow), Adam Kokoszka (Wisła Kraków), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warszawa), Michał Żewłakow (Olympiakos Pireus), Grzegorz Bronowicki (Crvana Zvezda Belgrad)

Marcin Kus is the only defender who played against USA, but he's not on this list.

Leo Beenhakker has announced the list of players for the match with USA on 26th March 2008. The list of players who will go to EURO 2008 is going to be announced right after this match, so we could expect not many changes. Although:

"This is the squad only for the match with USA, we are not closing the door for anyone. The list is not set in stone." - said Dariusz Dziekanowski, Leo Beenhakker's assistant.

But my personal feeling is that changes in this list are going to be done only in the case of injury.

Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United), Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal)

No surprises. Artur Boruc's position in the squad is inarguable and these three are simply the best Polish goalkeepers, despite Kuszczak and Fabianski being only reserve goalkeepers in their teams. ...

So... 84 days left to EURO 2008 and Polish national team loses 2-3 to the team made from foreign players playing in Orange Ekstraklasa. Nothing to be happy about.

For Leo Beenhakker's excuse, the team wasn't actually Polish national team, at least not in the sense of EURO 2008 - from the first squad we could see Jacek Krzynowek, Tomasz Zahorski and Jakub Wawrzyniak. It was a team made from players playing in Polish teams (+Jacek Krzynowek and Lukasz Piszczek). In spite of that, it was clear that the foreigners outclass Polish players technically.

The problem is also (as I've been already writing before) the fact, that key players in possible Polish squad for EURO are not playing in their teams. Jacek Krzynowek and Lukasz Piszczek were playing in this match simply because they haven't played in their teams for weeks. Said that, I can't ignore the form of Krzynowek - even if he's not good...