Krakow Scion Saves The Day
Celtic striker Maciej Zurawski squeezed home a penalty rebound to give Poland an edgy 3-2 victory at home to Austria on Saturday that keeps them above England at the top of World Cup qualifying Group Six.
Goals from Borussia Dortmund winger Euzebiusz Smolarek and Southampton's Kamil Kosowski had put the Poles 2-0 up inside 22 minutes before a fightback by Austria, for whom substitute Roland Linz grabbed a second-half double.
The Poles lead the group with 21 points from eight games, two ahead of England who have played a game less.
Victory against Wales in Warsaw on Wednesday could guarantee coach Pawel Janas's side qualify for next year's finals in Germany as one of the best runners-up.
"Am I happy? If we beat Wales and go through then you could say I will be happy," Janas told public television, blaming the second-half wobble on the hype surrounding his team's chances of advancing to the finals.
"These sort of defensive errors cost us all a lot of worry. The team is under increasing pressure and we panicked a little in the second half," he said.
The Poles dominated before the break and went close several times before a free kick rebound fell to Smolarek inside the box after 13 minutes.
Kosowski drilled home a second 10 minutes later after being set up by good work from Zurawski and new Tottenham Hotspur signing Grzegorz Rasiak.
But the Austrians, who drew six yellow cards from Italian referee Massimo De Santis, came back strongly in the second half and got their reward when Linz capitalised on a defensive mix-up to pull one back after 61 minutes.
With the match on a knife edge, Zurawski was put clear six minutes later, before being brought down in the area by Austrian keeper Andreas Schranz.
He hit the resulting penalty straight at Schranz, but kept his cool to slot home the rebound and put Poland 3-1 up, to the delight of a 45,000-strong home crowd.
Linz got a second for the Austrians after 82 minutes and went on to hit the crossbar in stoppage time.
"We need to apologise to our fans for the horror we created for them," Polish playmaker Miroslaw Szymkowiak said afterwards.
"But we should also be glad that luck has been with us recently and we get the three points."