Poland

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Poland hit back to win

20 Jun 2006 - 16:59:55

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Poland ended a disappointing tournament with a win as they came from behind to beat Costa Rica 2-1 in a low-key affair in Hanover.

The two teams were bidding to avoid the wooden spoon in Group A after losing their opening matches to Ecuador and Germany.

With little at stake it was no surprise that the opening quarter of the game was very quiet with barely a clear-cut chance created as both sides went through the motions.

However, the match livened up in the 25th minute when Ronald Gomez gave Costa Rica the lead with a venomous free-kick.

His effort went straight through the wall and nutmegged goalkeeper Artur Boruc, an unfortunate incident for the Celtic shot-stopper who produced a string of memorable saves in the last-gasp 1-0 defeat to Germany.

Six minutes later Costa Rica should have scored a second as Gomez tricked his way into the box but Paulo Wanchope's shot was weak.

It proved to be a costly miss as Poland equalised in the 33rd minute with their first goal of the tournament, Bartosz Bosacki steering the Poles' fifth corner of the game past Jose Porras who came for the ball but missed it.

The strike gave the Poles confidence and they almost went into the interval ahead only for Porras to get down smartly to deny Miroslav Szymkowiak.

The first 20 minutes of the second period were, like the opening quarter of the game, very quiet but Poland grabbed what proved to be the winner in the 66th minute.

A fantastic 25-yard drive from Jacek Krzynowek forced Porras to make a smart save and from the resulting corner Bosacki climbed above Wanchope at the far post to head home.

Poland seemed content to sit on their lead and they were nearly made to pay for their attitude with nine minutes left when Wanchope rightly had a goal ruled out for offside.

The result means Poland return home after finishing third in the group while the Ticos look back on a competition in which they conceded nine goals in only three matches.