On the day of the Colombia friendly

All right, Team Poland is figuratively set in concrete now. There’s no Dude(k), so the media can get over it finally and the squad is ready to go.

Ebi “The Hash Bomber” Smolarek, one to watch come Cup time and another so-called “surprise” cap-bearer, is listed as “doubtful” for the game with a case of food poisoning cited.

(Incidentally, with a track record like Coach Janas’, why is so much shit being talked about his decision making?)

Ebi may not currently be in an enviable position (slumped over, i imagine), but better now than, say, in two weeks when such a case might be the most famous in sports since some Sacramento Kings fan poisoned Kobe Bryant’s room-service burger during the 2002 NBA playoffs. No doubt he’ll be taking some mild analgesic for that illin’…

The competition tonight in Chorzow is Colombia, FIFA’s #27 ranked squad (the Bialo-czerwoni are at #29), who missed Cup qualification for the second straight time despite a squad thought to be better than at least Paraguay’s due to lackluster play and, as in 2001 qualifiers, lost out on fifth position in South America and the right to play the Aussies for slot #32 in the tournament.