Can't they still advance under a very limited set of circumstances?

The most Poland could get would be 3 points. Germany already has 6. Ecuador already has 3.

If Costa Rica beats Ecuador, Costa Rica gets 3. If Poland then beats Costa Rica, Poland gets 3. If Germany beats Ecuador, Ecuador winds up with 3. At that point, there's some sort of tie-breaker mechanism -- I believe having to do with goals differential for and against. Right now Poland is the worst in its group in that department.

Anyway, I'm writing the Poles off, and would be delighted to be proven wrong.

Unless someone scores a LOT of goals against Ecuador and Costa Rice, and Poland scores a LOT of goals and also wins the next two games, there's no way Poland can advance.

Stoppage time is always interesting. I thought Croatia was going to pull off a tie against Brazil on the last play of that game.

Poland's got only one game left. I think the only way it can advance is as I've outlined.

You're learning fast Jack! It's good, isn't it?!

Way to go Jack !.....wins then goal differential are the imp. factors...so as Jack so eloquently puts it........

And to requote the guy in the Oregonian World Cup article this last w/e, much of the tension and drama of soccer is created by the fact that goals are so precious but can be scored so quickly and at any time.

Plus the players are running at 90 mph for 90 minutes...try telling that to Shaq...plus I can watch 45 minutes of uninterrupted sport, have a pi** and a bowl of Wheaties and then have another 45 minutes of uninterrupted action all before 8 am....then repeat before 11.am and repeat until 2pm

Ah you're right Jack, they only have one game left. My mistake.

And good point above about uninterrupted action. I love that the games haven't been "Americanized" and broken down into bite size pieces. Instead they just say "This portion of the match brought to you by..." which is much easier to ignore!