Preview
Poland v Costa Rica
When a player is nicknamed "Magic," it's always possible that he'll disappear.
PHOTO: AP
Maciej Zurawski was tipped to be Poland's greatest hope at the World Cup, but has been almost anonymous and mustered one shot on goal while his team lost both its tournament matches to miss out on the second round.
Zurawski led scoring in qualifying with seven goals in 10 matches, but the striker's World Cup performances have been questioned and criticized.
"My scoring form is obviously not what it was," Zurawski said on Sunday. "It's not like I can say `I need to be in good form for the World Cup,' and I'm going to have it."
The Celtic striker, who's nicknamed "Magic" by the Scottish club's fans, is struggling to find reasons for his dip in form.
"[It's] a lot of factors, and you can't answer unambiguously," he said.
Poland need to renew their failed World Cup squad with younger talent as they face up to a tough qualifying group for the European Championships, Zurawski said.
"We have this last match and then we have to turn our attention to the group for the European Championships, for which Poland has never qualified. This time we have Serbia, Belgium and Portugal -- it will not be easy."
After losses to Germany and Ecuador, Poland and Costa Rica play purely for pride in their last game in World Cup Group A in Hanover today.
Costa Rica coach Guimaraes will ignore the temptation to make wholesale changes and is expected to name an unchanged side from the one that lost 3-0 to Ecuador, a defeat that ended their interest in the tournament.
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