Dudek has vowed to help South Korea achieve their goal of reaching the World Cup

JEONJU, June 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States find themselves in the unaccustomed position as favorites for their final World Cup group match with Poland on Friday, June 14, in their bid to clinch passage to the second round, as Poland who can not make the second round at the World Cup can definitely spoil things for the Americans.

Although U.S. have upset Group D favorites Portugal and drew with co-hosts South Korea, they still need to beat the Poles to get into the last 16 for the first time since they hosted the finals in 1994, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

The Americans are on level points with Korea and could miss out on the last 16 if Poland upset them and the co-hosts and Portugal draw their match with the tournament co-hosts in Incheon on Friday.

That’s exactly what Poland intends to do, as Poland goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek has vowed to help South Korea achieve their goal of reaching the World Cup second round after being bowled over by the co-hosts’ hospitality.

Dudek and Poland were sent packing from the World Cup on Monday, June 10, after crashing 4-0 against Portugal , who moved to within one point of Group D leaders South Korea and the United States after the win.

Portugal face South Korea in their final group match on Friday, when victory for the Europeans could see the tournament hosts knocked out.

A Portuguese win would mean Poland would have to beat the Americans for Korea to go through to the next round - and Liverpool keeper Dudek is determined to do the tournament hosts a favor, AFP said.

“We have to make a gift to the Korean people who looked after us very well,” Dudek said.

“They were friendly and the people want to qualify. We have to get a good result for Korea ,” said Dudek, putting aside the bitter disappointment of a Poland campaign which had promised much but delivered little.

Dudek said Poland ’s return to the World Cup stage after a 16-year absence had not gone as planned, with a 2-0 defeat to Korea followed by the rout against Portugal .

As for the U.S. position, it has three players with yellow cards from earlier games - defenders Frankie Hejduk and Jeff Agoos and midfielder DaMarcus Beasley - and any of them could be stood down for the Poland encounter, AFP said.

“We need to play our best team against Poland regardless of our yellow card situation,” coach Bruce Arena said Thursday, June 13.

“But we are going to look at the cards, the fitness of some players and certainly our opponents.”

Although Poland have lost both their games here without scoring a goal, Arena is cautious about Friday’s match.

“ Poland had an outstanding run in qualifying matches, but they haven't shown their best in this World Cup,” said Arena.

“We have to anticipate that they will show their best against us on Friday.”

Arena is particularly aware of the threat posed by Nigerian-born striker Emmanuel Olisadebe, midfielders Radoslaw Kaluzny and Jacek Krzynowek and the outstanding goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek.

“There’s a lot of good players in the Poland team and we have to be ready for a real difficult game.”

“I can’t imagine why we would have a favorable crowd to watch us play Poland ,” said Arena.

“There will be our respective supporters, but there will be a so-called neutral crowd of Koreans and I think they will probably be cheering for Poland .

“It won’t be the same as it was on Wednesday (against Korea ), but I can’t imagine it will be a pro-American crowd.”

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