Even though UEFA’s William Gaillard has publicly back English referee Howard Webb’s correct decision to award Austria an injury time penalty kick (which Ivica Vastic converted for a 1-1 result),  Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has admitted that when the call was made, even he wanted to kill Webb.

‘As the prime minister I have to be balanced and collected,’ keen soccer fan Donald Tusk told reporters. ‘But last night I was speaking very differently about the whole thing, I wanted to kill.

‘Referees make mistakes and this was an obvious error that harmed us all. I thought it would have been better if we had lost in the first half when Austria had their chances and not after 93 minutes due to an obvious mistake.’

According to Polish Radio, English authorities are thinking of putting security around Webb’s home after threats against his family have been made.

Imagine if “W” got that into soccer….

FC Uptown

image via Niepel

Everyone knew that the Poland/Germany match up at the 2008 Euros was going to ignite tension between supporter groups of the two nations. And it didn’t help when the Polish Tabloid Super Express had a front page picture of Polish head coach Leo Beenhakker holding the severed heads of Michael Ballack and German head coach Joachim Low.

Yesterday Austrian Police officially arrested 206 people during the tournaments first day in the country.

But the true ugliness lied with an official 157 arrests (detainments) in the city of Klagenfurt, where the Poland vs Germany game was held.

Nazi slogan chants were ringing not only inside the stadium, but outside in the city center as police had to separate Polish and German fans from clashing throughout the day.

With just over 2,500 police on site, the Austrian police had their hands full with over 80,000 fans on site.

Of the 157 detained, 144 came from Germany, 10 from Poland, two from Austria and one from Slovenia.

image via RforP

While Manchester United’s Tomasz Kuszczak wasn’t going to be the number 1 at Poland, he was still competing with Arsenal’s Lukasz Fabianski for the number 2 position for the 2008 Euros that start tomorrow.

Now Kuszczak has been ruled out of the tournament due to a spinal injury sustained at training, one that will keep him on the sideline for up to a minimum of three weeks.

image via Grgmd

Here’s what Poland is bringing to the table against the United States for next Wednesday’s (the 26th) Friendly.

Poland Squad:

Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United), Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal).

Defenders: Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht), Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bukarest), Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow), Jacek Bak (Austria Vienna), Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos), Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade), Arkadiusz Radomski (Austria Vienna).

Midfielders: Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk), Dariusz Dudka (Wisla Krakow), Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan), Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze), Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow), Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow), Jacek Krzynowek (VfL Wolfsburg).

Forwards: Maciej Zurawski (Larissa), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Racing Santander), Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin), Radoslaw Matusiak (Wisla Krakow), Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow).

image via CNN

After speeding through town and fatally running over an elderly woman crossing the street, the former Captain of Poland was given a suspended 4 year sentence and $2,900 fine.  This was after being arrested and fined for smuggling cigarettes. Life certainly has changed for Tomasz Hajto since the 2002 World Cup, no?