Karbownik and Kownacki at Düsseldorf: Pushing hard for Poland’s World Cup squad

Images via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock

The biggest surprise of the season so far has been the progression of the Polish duo at 2. Bundesliga club Fortuna Düsseldorf, Michał Karbownik and Dawid Kownacki.

Both Karbownik and Kownacki have had careers which have stalled in the past. Karbownik had an awful last year with form and injury at Olympiacos in Greece, and Kownacki has had a couple of ups and downs with his time in Germany, for example spending the second half of last year on loan back at his first club in senior football Lech Poznań.

Now though, things are looking much better for the Polish pair. Kownacki has six goals and six assists in 15 games in all competitions this season, and after Karbownik got off to a slow start he has got four assists in his last five games.

It’s been really encouraging to see, especially with a World Cup around the corner. I wrote an article about Karbownik just a few weeks ago, where I said he stood a good chance of getting back in the Poland squad if his good form continued, and lo and behold he has been named in the 40-man shortlist for the Polish World Cup squad. He stands a really good chance of making the final 26 as well, given he can play as a back-up left wing-back to Nicola Zalewski, as well as the capability to play in Poland’s problem area of central midfield.

It’s a bit more complicated with Kownacki. There’s been a lot of debate amongst Polish pundits the past few days about whether Kownacki should replace Krzysztof Piątek in the World Cup squad. Quite frankly, I think because Kownacki has the ability to play in the wide positions as well as up front, he should be taken in addition to Poland’s main four striker options (Piątek being one of them).

There’s just over two weeks to the final World Cup squad being announced on November 10th, and at this point it’s quite likely that one of Karbownik and Kownacki will make it, and I personally think both should.

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