Image via @LaczyNasPilka & @PaulaDuda13 on Twitter
Poland beat Turkey as Nicola Zalewski scored his first goal for his nation in the last minute of regular time as a close game against a good Turkey side resulted in yet another good performance and result for Poland under Michał Probierz.
Starting the game well with Probierz naming what many thought was surely his strongest side, Poland took a 12th minute lead through Karol Świderski. Unfortunately, as he celebrated Świderski landed awkwardly and appeared to turn his ankle. After treatment Świderski continued, but only briefly as five minutes later Krzysztof Piątek was sent on in his place.
Next to fall was Robert Lewandowski, playing his 150th match for Poland. Holding his thigh, he was only treated briefly on the pitch but was nonetheless taken off for Kacper Urbański.
After the match, Probierz seemed optimistic as to the conditions of both his starting strikers, with Świderski’s injury being described as one that would keep him out for days rather than weeks and Lewandowski’s issue being even less serious than that. At time of writing, the latest reports were that Świderski was being sent for an MRI to determine exactly how serious the problem was. Fingers crossed it is indeed just as minor as Probierz alleged.
Turkey finished the first half well after Poland had to make their changes, and indeed the second half very much belonged to the visitors, save for one glorious opportunity for Urbański, whose shot was well-saved by Mert Gunok in the Turkish goal. Speaking of saves, Wojciech Szczęsny was on top form as frequently in the second half he was called upon as Turkey started cranking up the pressure even further. Indeed with all the shots saved, last minute blocks and interceptions it very much felt like a Poland side of old, needing to suffer without the ball for the result. Eventually the equaliser came, as Bartosz Salamon was unable to fully close down a shot from Baris Alper Yilmaz which wrong-footed Szczęsny.
Urbański was able to show his wonderful ability late on with a beautiful turn and through ball, as Piątek latched onto it and forced a cracking save from Gunok. Both Urbański and Piątek were positives from the bench, as were the dynamic midfield additions of Jakub Moder and Sebastian Szymański, the latter of whom managed to assist the winning goal.
Now, I don’t wish to feed into harmful stereotyping here, but there was a surprising amount of gamesmanship from both sides in this evening’s game considering the friendly status upon which it was played. This was summed up quite nicely after Poland’s winning goal, as the ball which had gone out for a Polish throw-in was kicked back onto the pitch by a Turkish player. The throw-in was taken by Poland, but despite there technically being two balls on the pitch one was very much not active.
Said second goal was a wonderful driving run from Zalewski, the kind which we have seen him make many times in a Poland shirt over the last six or so months. Usually lacking the shot at the end, this time Zalewski made no mistake as he slotted the ball neatly into the near corner.
Sunday will see Poland’s first match of Euro 2024 as they take on Holland in Hamburg. Hopefully those who were withdrawn with injury make good recoveries, and that Michał Probierz earns a ninth unbeaten game as Selekcjoner.
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