Dudek inspires Bocian dream

Jerzy Dudek did not only join Real Madrid CF this week – he also inspired two stellar performances from Poland's Anna Bocian at the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship in Iceland.

Heroics
The younger of the two goalkeepers would have helped her country to victory on their finals debut had England not found an injury-time equaliser in a 1-1 draw on Wednesday. Bocian continued to frustrate forwards two days later, making a flying penalty save before Poland finally succumbed to two second-half goals in losing 2-0 against Spain.

Role model
It was in the wake of her stop from Raquel Peña's penalty for Spain that the 19-year-old revealed her inspiration. "I try to be like Jerzy Dudek who is also Polish," she told uefa.com. "He is my hero and I thought about the match between Liverpool [FC] and AC Milan, trying to do what he did two years ago in Istanbul. It was my second penalty save in this tournament – the first was against Russia in the second qualifying round. I think it's a lot of luck because it is very hard to save a penalty."

Testing times
As well as catching the eye, the goalkeeper from Polish club UKS "Victoria SP 2" Sianów is also enjoying herself in Iceland. "It is a very good organisation out here and I am liking the tournament a lot," she said. "We were very tired during the Spain match after playing England, which was a very hard game." Another tough contest lies in store for Poland on Monday when Group B's bottom team face second-placed France, with either still capable of reaching the semi-finals. Bocian is confident of success. "I think we will win against France and qualify for the semi-finals," she said. "That was our dream and we will fight for it. We believe we can take on the best."