Striker Åukasz Piszczek has been called up to replace injured forward RadosÅ‚aw Matusiak in the Poland squad for the forthcoming UEFA EURO 2008 qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Armenia. Matusiak has failed to recover from an ankle injury sustained in his side's 3-2 Serie A defeat at Ascoli Calcio 1898 on 13 May and the US Città di Palermo striker's absence will be keenly felt by Poland coach Leo Beenhakker as he has already scored twice during Poland's qualifying campaign. Replacement Piszczek, 21, has only once previously been capped by Poland but scored eleven goals for ZagÅ‚Ä™bie this season as they claimed the 2006/07 Polish title.
12:00 PM EST – Qualification Group A – Azerbaijan v. Poland
First competed in the UEFA European Championship during the qualification phase for UEFA EURO '96 and recorded their only point in a scoreless draw at home to Poland in their final game. But France had earlier made them suffer by netting ten goals without reply on 6 September 1995 in Auxerre, Azerbaijan's record defeat in a competitive international. Up until the start of qualifying for UEFA EURO 2008, Azerbaijan had played 28 matches in the competition. In that time, they had won twice, drawn three times and lost on 23 occasions with 13 goals scored and 75 conceded.
Bodog.com has posted European Football betting odds on the UEFA EURO 2008 Qualifiers:
Azerbaijan: +900
Poland: -500
Draw: +400
