BALTIMORE, Maryland October 13, 2014 - It's hard to imagine a bigger upset. Germany is only months away from a stylish and convincing victory in the World Cup, the first European side to win the Cup on South American soil. On the other hand, Poland once again failed to qualify for the World Cup. Move the calendar forward to Saturday, October 11 in Warsaw. Over 57,000 Polish soccer fans filled the National Stadium to see the match between the two nations, with the winner taking over first place in Group D of the Qualifying Divisions for the European 2016 Championship Tournament.
While a few of the German heroes from the World Cup side were missing, most were on the pitch for the match, including scoring machine Thomas Muller and Championship Game Hero Mario Götze. Polish stalwart Robert Lewandowski, who set up the second Polish goal in the 88th minute with a deft pass to Sebastian Mila, said his teammates respected Germany too much at the start of the match. Within a short period of time, however, the Polish side realized they could play with Germany and set about acoomplishing something Poland had never done: defeat Germany in international competition. In fact, the last six times the two nations competed Poland had not scored. Poland broke on top in the 51st minute on a header by Arkadiusz Milik. Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny played all the way in the nets for Poland and recorded the unlikely shutout. Poland is now tied for the Group D lead with six points, the same as Ireland. Germany is in third place with three points.
On Tuesday, Poland collides with Scotland while Germany plays co-Group D leader Ireland. Last spring, Scotland defeated Poland in a friendly match in Warsaw, 1-0.
Another surprising soccer result from the weekend - at least when you look at how the season has started for the two teams - was Maryland's rout of powerful Penn State. Perennial power Maryland has struggled greatly out of the gate this season, and even with the key win Sunday sports only a 5-5-2 overall record, and 2-2-1 in the Big Ten. Penn State is now 10=1=1 overall, and 4-1 in the conference, and the Nittany Lions remain in first place. Here are the up-to-the-minute soceer standings:
1. Penn State: Conference: 4-1-0, .800 pct; Overall: 10-1-1, .875 pct
2. Michigan: Conference: 2-1-2, .600 pct; Overall: 4-5-2, .455 pct
3. Indiana: Conference: 2-1-1, .625 pct; Overall: 8-1-3, .792 pct
4. Michigan State: Conference: 2-1-1, .625 pct; Overall: 7-2-2, .727 pct
5. Maryland: Conference: 2-2-1, .500; Overall: 5-5-2, .500 pct
6. Ohio State: Conference: 2-2-0, .500 pct; Overall: 4-5-3, .458 pct
7. Northwestern: Conference: 1-1-2, .500 pct; Overall: 6-1-4, .727 pct
8. Rutgers: Conference: 1-3-1, .300 pct; Overall: 3-7-1, .318 pct
9. Wisconsin: Conference: 0-4-0, .000; Overall: 2-8-1, .227 pct
The Terps got two goals from Mael Corboz and one each from Alex Shinsky and Tsubassa Endoh. Corboz scored first in the 12th minute, his fourth goal of the season. He scored his second goal in the 31st minute, and the Terps took that lead to halftime. Shinsky and Endoh scored in the second half. Maryland returns to the pitch Wednesday night at Ludwig Field against Lehigh. The next Big Ten game is Sunday, at 2 pm in Bloomington against Indiana. To say it is a key game for the Terps is the ultimate understatement. If the Terps are to be a factor in the Big Ten race they must win at Indiana. Otherwise, they are doomed to the second division in a race even Big Ten writers figured they would win.
Another team with their season on the line is the Baltimore Orioles. They lost both of the initial games of their American League Championship Series to the Kansas City Royals in Baltimore. Both were nailbiters and in both they faded late and lost. The bullpen, the pride and joy of the Oriole hierarchy, has given up key runs in both games. While Andrew Miller has been tremendous, both Zach Britton and Darren O'Day have been shadows of their regular season selves. In both games, the Oriole starting pitchers gave up a barrage of runs that, somehow, the offense battled back from. And then, incredibly, the bullpen gave Kansas City the lead back. That just should not have happened.
My objection is that Kansas City just isn't that good. They have a line-up of banjo hitters that we are treating like the Bronx Bombers of 1927. Babe Ruth is not in the Kansas City line-up. Pitchers, get these bums out, now, while there is still time. And the line-up needs to know this: Detroit beat these guys. When they shot ahead of the Tigers, the Tigers collected themselves and got thel division lead back. The Royals are here because they won the wild card game from Oakland. They should not be ahead in this series. The Orioles can still win. I cannot imagine them being swept. I hope the comeback starts tonight.
As for the Ravens, they played yesterday like they should play every weekend. Joe Flacco can be that good every Sunday. We have talent at wide receiver that is as deep as it is good. Marlon Brown didn't even play yesterday and when all is said and done he might be the best receiver of the lot, if it isn't Torrey Smith. T. Smith looked like he should always look. He has the best hands in the NFL. And even without Ray Rice, we are deep and talented at running back. The defense, especially the linebackers, get better every week. The Ravens, though, have to believe in themselves as much as I do. Otherwise, yesterday was just a mirage.
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