Reyna (left) - sides struggling with fatigue (Allsport)

By Paul Walker, PA Sport, Daejeon

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USA skipper Claudio Reyna put the demise of two of the world's best teams in this World Cup down to fatigue.

As the Americans prepare for their clash with Poland and the prospect of reaching the last 16, the Sunderland midfielder sympathised with the plight of the French and Argentinans, both favourites and both now out.

Reyna said: "One of the reasons could be fatigue. The big name players in big teams are playing big games all the year round.

"And they are also under a lot of pressure from their public back home. They are playing so much and there's no breaks in the big leagues."

Reyna will lead a USA team who will have to go for broke here in their bid to reach the second stage of the World Cup Finals for the first time since they hosted the tournament in 1994.

The States still need to beat Poland. They are level with Korea and could miss out on the last 16 if Poland upset them and the co-hosts and Portugal draw their match in Incheon.

So USA coach Bruce Arena will risk all three of his players on yellow cards for a do-or-die clash against a team already out of the tournament but determined to go out with some dignity.

The States have defenders Jeff Agoos and Frank Hejduk plus midfielder DaMarcus Beasley one booking away from suspension from a potential last-16 clash, probably against either Italy or Mexico.

Arena said: "We need to play our best team against Poland regardless of our yellow card situation."

Poland have lost both their games here without scoring a goal, but Arena is cautious.

He said: "Poland had an outstanding run in qualifying matches, but they haven't shown their best in this World Cup.

"We have to anticipate that they will show their best against us.

"There's a lot of good players in the Poland team and we have to be ready for a real difficult game."

Poland goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek has vowed to help South Korea achieve their goal of reaching the World Cup second round after being impressed by the co-hosts' hospitality.

Dudek and Poland were sent packing from the World Cup on Monday after crashing 4-0 against Portugal, who moved to within one point of South Korea and the United States.

A Portuguese win over the Koreans would mean Poland would have to beat the Americans for Korea to go through to the next round, and Liverpool keeper Dudek is determined to do the tournament hosts a favour.

"We have to make a gift to the Korean people who looked after us very well," Dudek said.

Poland boss Jerzy Engel, under fire back home for poor preparation and performances here, admitted: "We just have not been up to it, we knew it would be very different out in Korea to what we experienced in our European qualifiers, we knew the situation and we have not been good enough, we have no complaints.

"I am now only concerned with the spirit of the squad for this last match and putting in a good performance."