Poles must break German hoodoo or face exit

GELSENKIRCHEN, June 10 (Reuters) Poland face the unenviable task of beating Germany for the first time after the latest in a long line of poor starts to the World Cup against Ecuador yesterday.

The Poles were sunk by goals from Carlos Tenorio and Agustin Delgado that silenced one of the tournament's biggest travelling supports and left them needing to beat the hosts to stay in the tournament.

It was all a painful repeat of four years ago when they opened with a 2-0 defeat by hosts South Korea and failed to progress to the last 16.

''It's clear what is waiting for us. Even if we draw we are probably out,'' playmaker Miroslaw Szymkowiak told reporters after the 2-0 defeat.

''It's hard to say anything. We are devastated by this defeat.

But we have to pick ourselves up and bet it all on one hand.'' Polish media today put the blame on both players and tactics, targetting coach Pawel Janas's conservative defensive formation as well as below par performances for Jacek Krzynowek, Szymkowiak and Celtic striker Maciej Zurawski.

HIT WOODWORK Janas said there may be changes for the Germany game but refused to give any indication of where.

Substitutes Ireneusz Jelen and Pawel Brozek both hit the woodwork in the last 10 minutes, strengthening the case for him to do the unthinkable and drop Zurawski against Germany.

''I had that chance to score plus a couple of others but I could have been better,'' the soft-spoken Jelen told Reuters.

''For now we have to analyse the whole game, draw conclusions from it. It's the coach who decides if I play or don't play -- either way I won't be offended.'' Janas also has to decide whether to stick with the defensive 4-5-1 formation which ground out a 1-0 win over Croatia last week but failed when the Poles needed to take the game to Ecuador. The recipe may work better against Germany.

''It's going to be very hard to pick ourselves up after this. But I'm not going to just hang my head and give up,'' said goalkeeper Artur Boruc. ''The favourites don't always win.'' REUTERS PDS PM1526