Krzysztof Piątek scored the only goal of the game as Poland beat Chile in their pre-World Cup friendly at Łazienkowska. Whilst the result was pleasing (especially as I’d flown 2000 kilometres to be there) it was also a demonstration of what Czesław Michniewicz might do in terms of his fluidity of system during a match, as well as time on the pitch for some of the players who will probably be featuring mostly as substitutes in Qatar.
This article will be part match report, part travelogue, as this was my first time at a Poland match (and actually the first time I’d been to a match outside the UK). Having originally bought tickets for the match as it was to be held at Stadion Narodowy, I was understandably disappointed to learn last week that the stadium was closed due to a fault with the roof. With my flights already booked, I crossed my fingers that the match would either be at the Legia Stadium or another stadium that could’ve been travelled to from Warszawa and back in one day. This transpired not be an issue due to the PZPN’s hasty rescheduling to Łazienkowska and I flew out as planned on the Monday morning.
There was a bit of a scandal over the third-party resale of tickets for the rescheduled match, and whilst it was annoying to pay 240PLN for a ticket, some of the resale prices were even higher than that.
I knew the day before the match that it wouldn’t necessarily be the first-choice players receiving minutes after the comments Michniewicz made in his press conference. Such is the nature of these things and I was pleased to see players like Jakub Kamiński and Przemysław Frankowski get some well-earned time on the pitch.
Managing to get to the stadium less than ten minutes before kick-off (thanks to a brisk walk after several buses failed to turn up), I was well placed to see plenty of the action up close. The most concerning moment of the first half in particular came as Chilean right-back Guillermo Soto thundered through the back of Frankowski, earning a yellow card.
The game as a whole was dominated by Chile having plenty of the ball and Poland looking to play on the counter; this was not exactly a surprise. Unfortunately, plenty of promising counter-attacking opportunities broke down due to poor touches, passes or decisions from players who are not playing regularly for their clubs (Szymon Żurkowski in particular).
Michniewicz utilised two different formations in the game, in the first half using a 3-5-2 and in the second opting for a 4-5-1. Both systems had strengths and weaknesses, with the 4-5-1 in the second half looking particularly prone to pressure at several points.
Eventually, the goal came after a small period of sustained pressure, where Piątek, Kamiński, Kamil Grosicki and Bartosz Bereszyński had all been causing some threat to the Chilean defence. A corner was headed at Chile keeper Claudio Bravo, who could only parry the ball downwards, where Piątek poked the ball in off the post. It was a scrappy goal, but it happened at the end of the ground where I was sat and the celebrations took place in the corner where I was sat, so it was fine by me.
Poland and Piątek celebrate in the corner!
Yet another bizarre moment (considering it was a friendly) was Gary Medel trying to start a fight with Piątek after the pair fought for the ball as Medel was trying to prevent a corner. It was perfectly fair to challenge for the ball whilst it was in play, and Medel seemed to take exception to this. Inexplicably, both players were shown a yellow card.
My overarching thoughts on the match are difficult to quantify in a short space, so I’ll try and make them as concise as possible. It was not beautiful football from Poland, but if they win games in the manner they did last night, it won’t matter because winning is generally more important than general play when it comes to international tournaments. On this point, if you put in most of the assumed starters (Lewandowski, Zieliński, Matty Cash) the level of play will be higher than it was last night.
In the defence, Jan Bednarek and Kamil Glik still look capable of switching off (neither is playing that regularly for their clubs) but who knows if this match will spark some kind of life into them. Jakub Kiwior was superb as ever, and Bereszyński is suddenly looking like a really strong option for Poland. I think it could be said Robert Gumny and Mateusz Wieteska both had off nights, but back-up keeper Łukasz Skorupski did well in goal, stopping a number of efforts that may have been heading for the back of the net.
Midfield did appear to be lacking without Zieliński, particularly as Żurkowski had one of the worst games I’ve seen him play. Maligned as he is, Grzegorz Krychowiak played to a decent standard (although is now getting pelters for his post-match interview, where he point blank told us we shouldn’t expect good football from this team) and Sebastian Szymański was at his normal high standard for the most part. Kamiński and Grosicki were good substitutions, Kamiński in particular helping to drive the team forward down the right-hand side. Damian Szymański was perfectly satisfactory as well, allaying the previous fears I had over his call-up.
In terms of the three strikers we saw against Chile, it’s still difficult to pick an obvious partner for Lewandowski. Piątek scored and he has played well in Serie A, but Milik’s club form is strong too and whilst Świderski didn’t set the world on fire last night, he does have a habit of scoring goals for his country when needed. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Lewy has a different partner for each group game Poland play.
Despite some obvious concerns, you’d think that the players and fans will feel a little better with the morale boost of a win in front of a good crowd before their first game against Mexico on Tuesday. I certainly felt a little bit of optimism as I trudged to the bus stop, with the 520 arriving right as I got there in a pleasant turn of events from prior to the match.
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Me (in focus) and the Polish national team (annoying out of focus)
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