Poles bid to end in style
19 Jun 2006 - 12:11:57
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- Poles bid to end in style
Poland's clash against Costa Rica could be coach Pawel Janas' last in charge of the national side as he battles to save his job.
Defeats against Ecuador and Germany have left the Poles with nothing to play for going into the game in Hanover and Janas is coming under increasing pressure.
The Poland Football Association's chief executive Michal Listkiewicz has already said: "We have given Janas two weeks to report back.
"I expect the decision will be taken sometime between July 15-20 and I would underline that our assessment will be of the whole of his three years in charge.
"Personally I will wait to come to an opinion until after the Costa Rica game. In general I view his work as excellent.
"In general we have to show that we can win, we have to score goals, which we have not done so far at the finals."
Janas will definitely be without the suspended Radoslaw Sobolewski for Tuesday's game following the defender's red card in the 1-0 loss to Germany and may use the match to experiment with several of the younger players in his squad.
Costa Rica are also unable to reach the last 16 after crashing to two defeats - 4-2 to Germany and 3-0 against Ecuador.
However, coach Alexandre Guimaraes is expected to name an unchanged line-up against the Poles as he looks to break his side's duck.
He has a full-strength squad to choose from apart from defender Gilberto Martinez who has already gone home.
Guimaraes has no excuses for his side's poor defensive displays in Germany but hopes to end the tournament in style.
The Ticos coach said: "We have played badly and not done ourselves justice but we have the opportunity to do something better in this game.
"It will be hard for both sides because neither want to finish bottom of the group."