Costa Rica R Gomez 24 1-2 (1-1) Poland B Bosacki 33 B Bosacki 66   Bookings: M Umana 17 L Marin 45 R Gomez 45 G Badilla 56 L Gonzalez 76     Bookings: A Radomski 18 J Bak 23 M Zewlakow 29 M Baszczynski 60 A Boruc 90 COSTA RICAPOLAND Possession 50% 50% Shots on target 6 8 Shots off target 5 6 Corners 2 10 Fouls 13 18

Costa Rica 18 J Porras 02 J Drummond (70 H Wallace ) 12 L Gonzalez 04 M Umana 03 L Marin 07 C Bolanos (78 A Saborio ) 08 M Solis 10 W Centeno 17 G Badilla 09 P Wanchope 11 R Gomez (82 C Hernandez ) Subtitutes 01 A Mesen, 06 D Fonseca, 13 K Bernard, 14 R Azofeifa, 15 H Wallace, 16 C Hernandez, 19 A Saborio, 20 D Sequeira, 21 V Nunez, 22 M Rodriguez, 23 W Alfaro, 05 G Martinez Poland 01 A Boruc 04 M Baszczynski 06 J Bak 19 B Bosacki 14 M Zewlakow 08 J Krzynowek 10 M Szymkowiak 15 E Smolarek (85 G Rasiak ) 16 A Radomski (64 M Lewandowski ) 21 I Jelen 09 M Zurawski (45 P Brozek ) Subtitutes 02 M Jop, 03 S Gancarczyk, 05 K Kosowski, 11 G Rasiak, 12 T Kuszczak, 13 S Mila, 17 D Dudka, 18 M Lewandowski, 20 P Giza, 22 L Fabianski, 23 P Brozek Ref: Shamsul Maidin Att: 43000

PLAYER-RATER: Remarkably, late substitute is your man of the match, polling a massive 9.17, despite only playing for 20 minutes at the end of the match. The best-ranked Pole is Ronald Gomez with 9.09.

FULL-TIME: The three minutes of injury time come to a close, and Boratosz Bosacki's two goals are enough to give Poland a pride-restoring victory as they and Costa Rica exit the 2006 World Cup.

90 mins: Surely that's game over for Costa Rica when Carlos Hernandez makes a mess with a cracking free-kick opportunity.

89 mins: Pawel Brozek sticks out his tongue and shakes his head while thinking what could have been. Poland has three on two when Brozek rushes his header goalbound. The shot - sadly for him - lacks any venom.

88 mins: Time is desperately running out for the Costa Ricans, which is not helped when Artur Boruc takes plenty of time with his latest goal-kick.

86 mins: Wanchope shows off his bright white teeth but there's no smile about it. It's simply a grimace as one of the few times he is not adjudged offside he fails to latch on to the telling cross in space.

85 mins: Grzegorz Raziak replaces Ebi Smolarek to add a bit of late zest into Poland as they endeavour to hold on to their lead.

83 mins: There's enormous cheers from the crowd as Paulo Wanchope clears the Polish defenders, chips Artur Boruc and heads into an empty net. The celebrations last just a few seconds when the linesman violently waves for offside. No goal.

82 mins: Ronald Gomez has a chance to get his side back into the game but his free-kick isn't great, to say the least. A grumpy Gomez is then replaced by Carlos Hernandez.

80 mins: Paulo Wanchope picks up a free-kick as Bartosz Bosacki clips the back of his heels. It's well within Ronald Gomez's range...

79 mins: Alvaro Sobario comes into the fray for Cristian Bolanos, one of Costa Rica's better performers out there today.

77 mins: There's a mini-fracas between the players in Hanover after ugly challenges from either side. And surprise surprise, the card-happy referee delves into his pocket for card number nine. Leonardo Gonzalez is the less-than-grateful recipient. A quick spit on the turf highlights his displeasure.

75 mins: Ronald Gomez whips in a corner - the best Costa Rican effort for a while. Artur Boruc, though, leaps above the rest to take the ball unchallenged.

73 mins: The Poles flick the ball between them with nonchalant ease - an aspect that was missing from much of their game plan earlier on. Meanwhile, you get the feeling Costa Rica need a major rethink to get back into contention. They appear to have gone to sleep... albeit momentarily.

70 mins: Poland have got a lot more about them in the match now. Marcin Baszczynski is the latest player to have a go at goal. It's not all that special a strike but the Poles keep on singing in earnest.

69 mins: Harold Wallace, who was dropped for this match, comes into the game for Jervis Drummond.

66 mins: GOAL Costa Rica 1-2 Poland
Boratosz Bosacki heads home for his second goal of the game. Jacek Krzynowek is the clear creator after winning a corner following a blistering piledriver at Jose Porras. Krzynowek then curls in a tidy corner which Bosacki neatly heads home... thanks in part to Paulo Wanchope's apparent refusal to do any defending.

65 mins: Jacek Krzynowek unleashes a reasonably tasty cross but there's seemingly no Pole in the penalty box wanting to do anything about it. Once again, a chance goes begging and Polish coach Pawel Janas shakes his head in disgust.

63 mins: Ronaldo Gomez taps the ball just in front of the box for team-mate Paulo Wanchope, but the Costa Rican striker finds himself on the wrong side of a Polish defensive sandwich and pulls up in exasperation.

61 mins: Paulo Wanchope wastes a decent opportunity to mark his World Cup swansong with a goal, heading tamely wide from Jervis Drummond's deep cross.

60 mins: Another booking from referee Maidin, Marcin Baszczynski making it eight yellow cards.

56 mins: It's not been quite as interesting a half as the last yet, although the opening part of the first half was fairly dull before paving the way to some delightful later attacking play. One moment of note, however, sees Gabriel Badilla pick up a yellow card as he goes studs up on the ankle of his Costa Rican marker.

53 mins: Pawel Browek gets in a great position to fire a shot on goal. However, it tamely hugs the turf and travels relatively harmlessly into the grateful hands of Jose Porras.

50 mins: Cristian Bolanos nearly makes Poland pay straight away when he is sent clear early on in the half. But Artur Boruc just sees the danger in time and collects the ball.

49 mins: Substitute Pawel Brozek makes an immediate impact with a delightful little crossfield pass to Ireneusz Jelen but Jelen makes a bit of a hash of it.

48 mins: Ireneusz Jelen has the first shot of the half. It's a hard one to pull off and Jelen snatches a bit too much at it so it fails to really bother Jose Porras in goal.

46 mins: Pawel Brozek comes on for Maciej Zurawski for the resumption of play in Hanover.

"It's looking to be much better than we anticipated what with Poland equalising and both teams trying to create another."
sporthosts, 606 messageboard

PLAYER RATER: There's some massively high scores from the opening half, with no player scoring below 8.5. Costa Rican keeper Jose Porras has the highest tally - for now - with 9.5, while Ebi Smolarek tops the Polish tally with 9.29.

HALF-TIME: It may be a meaningless tie for many, being as neither team can reach the knock-out stages of the World Cup but there's still been plenty to applaud in the half.

You get the impression, though, a red card might crop into the reckoning in the second half after the referee dished out six yellows in the opening 45 minutes.

45 mins+3: Jose Porras screams instructions at his team-mates for a Polish free-kick in the dying seconds of the half. He continues the screaming after a cracking save. Ronald Gomez is then booked just after the half-time whistle - booking number six of the half.

45 mins+1: Ronald Gomez tries to make it two with a belter from distance. A Polish head gets in the way. Seconds later Luis Marin is yellow carded for pulling down Ireneusz Jelen on the attack.

45 mins: There's some negative whistling from the crowd but that could well be simply the Polish fans having heard news of Germany's second goal over the tannoy.

43 mins: Ireneusz Jelen and Maciej Zurawski combine with aplomb but the Costa Ricans come to the fore and get the appropriate limbs in the way to block the threat.

41 mins: Walter Centeno nearly sends Paulo Wanchope clear on goal. Wanchope looks absolutely disgusted with himself for failing to latch on to the ball. These two sides may be going no further in this World Cup but they're giving it everything in Hanover.

38 mins: Jacek Krzynowek forces a corner from Michael Umana but only after a cracking block from Umana.

36 mins: Both sides are looking more than capable of adding a second in this match before the interval. It's lovely stuff out there.

33 mins: GOAL Costa Rica 1-1 Poland
Boratosz Bosacki scores. Maciej Zurawski's corner causes keeper Jose Porras to come flying out of his goal recklessly. As it comes clear, Bosacki, who was only passed fit for this match earlier today, blasts it past Porras. The goal celebrations are temporarily put on hold with a suggestion the effort is about to be ruled out before the referee gives him the go ahead to celebrate away.

31 mins: Man of the moment Ronald Gomez nearly produces a sensational second goal, with a deft inside flick to Paulo Wanchope but he can't latch on to the return ball in front of an open goal.

29 mins: Yet another yellow card - this time Michal Zewlakow is the offender.

27 mins: Ireneusz Jelen does his utmost to get his eastern European team-mates back into contention. His final ball, though, lets him down after a fine dart down the right flank.

24 mins: GOAL Costa Rica 1-0 Poland
Ronald Gomez scores straight from a free-kick. An unsighted Artur Boruc in goal gets close to the ball but it flies underneath his body as he tries to halt it.

23 mins: Paulo Wanchope times a run delightfully but finds himself stranded. A little pirouette does the trick, however, and he draws a foul from Jeck Bak, who becomes the third player booked in the process.

21 mins: Poland show far greater bite on their latest attack. Maciej Zurawski, undeniably the biggest Polish attacking threat of the game so far, smashes the ball but Leonardo Gonzalez gets his leg in the way.

18 mins: A minute after the last yellow card of the game, Arkadiusz Radomski is added to the referee's book for a challenge from behind.

17 mins: Michael Umana picks up the first booking of the game when he fells Ireneusz Jelen. Maciej Jurawski goes for goal with the subsequent free-kick - quite a tasty effort as it happens but just off target.

16 mins: Poland are murdering any momentum they might gather every time they receive the ball. It brings whistles of derision from the stands, well, the Costa Rican part of them anyway.

14 mins: Paulo Wanchope may well have seized the prize as most offside player of the tournament. He's almost five metres past the defenders on the latest Costa Rican attack. Despite the error, he's looking sparky.

12 mins: While Costa Rica seem to have got the making of their crosses, Poland haven't. Maciej Zurawski is the latest player to fluff a corner.

11 mins: Costa Rica are looking the far livier at the moment. Ronald Gomez has another header to at least make Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc's heart skip a beat before it goes out for another goalkick.

9 mins: Ronald Gomez goes for a line-up akin to the West Indies fast bowlers of old. It's all power and no direction but he still wins his team a corner, which Gomez heads towards the goal before clearing the crossbar.

7 mins: Jacek Krzynowek whips in the first corner of the game. One only hopes he'll improve as the clock ticks on. His effort clears every Polish and Costa Rican head in the box... with quite some room to spare.

5 mins: The other Group A match may have got off to a bonkers start but it's all fairly slow and steady here. Jose Porras clears a ball as though he doesn't have a care in the world. Seconds later, though, Paulo Wanchope has a half-hearted stab at goal. He raises his hands to his team-mates to, I imagine, apologise to those around him. Not one of his best efforts.

2 mins: Costa Rica flood their defence early on as Poland endeavour to make a break. It comes to nothing but brings hooters and whistles galore from the packed stands.

1500 BST: Play is under way in Hanover as Singapore referee Shamsul Maidin blows his whistle. He's already shown two red cards in this tournament. Today's players will be hoping he doesn't make it a hat-trick...

1455 BST: There's a stirring rendition of the Polish national anthem - Dabrowski's Mazurka as it's apparently better known - which gets the crowd going in full voice. There's a similar number of decibels as Costa Rica's players and fans belt out their own anthem.

1450 BST: Two gargantuan Polish flags are doing the rounds in the stands as their players begin to line up in the tunnel alongside their Costa Rican counterparts. There's plenty of limbering up going on among the two sets of players.

1445 BST: All talk is on the other game in Group A but there's still plenty of pride at stake in Hanover.

Costa Rica: Porras, Drummond, Gonzalez, Umana, Marin, Bolanos, Solis, Centeno, Badilla, Wanchope, Gomez.
Subs: Mesen, Fonseca, Bernard, Azofeifa, Wallace, Hernandez, Saborio, Sequeira, Nunez, Rodriguez, Alfaro, Martinez.

Poland: Boruc, Baszczynski, Bak, Bosacki, Zewlakow, Krzynowek, Szymkowiak, Smolarek, Radomski, Jelen, Zurawski.
Subs: Jop, Gancarczyk, Kosowski, Rasiak, Kuszczak, Mila, Dudka, Lewandowski, Giza, Fabianski, Brozek.

Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)