It feels like a long time since our most recent memories of the Polish national team, the misery of Nations League relegation in November. In the meantime, some of the regulars that Selekcjoner Michał Probierz has called upon have been in good form, others have switched clubs and others are pretty much as they were.
As ever when these squads get announced, I’ll be breaking it down and going through position by position. There’s a lot to get through given it’s been a while in general since the last article I wrote, and I’d been holding off on a lot of thoughts until this squad was announced.
Goalkeepers
Little to quarrel about here, given it’s the same as it has been for the last few squads. We know now that Łukasz Skorupski will almost certainly be first choice, although given the pretty solid form Bartłomiej Drągowski has shown in the interim months, I feel he should be given an opportunity again at some point even though he remains very much the third choice in his position.
Defenders
The headline news is the return of Matty Cash to a Poland squad after a whole 12 months. Last seen in a Poland shirt injuring himself, a lot of his time since has seen him bouncing from one minor injury to another, even if he was reportedly fit ahead of Euro 2024. As it was he did not go to the tournament in Germany, which in hindsight would’ve provided a higher quality (albeit worse form) alternative in that right wing-back spot than Przemysław Frankowski or Michał Skóraś.
I’m really pleased Cash has come back into the squad as he is one of the relatively few players in the squad playing his club football at the highest level in the Premier League and Champions League, not to mention the fact he was a really great player for Poland in the first 18 months or so of his national team duty.
Jan Bednarek has become quite an unlikely lynchpin for Poland’s defence both during and since the Euros last summer, given the constant criticism he receives domestically any time he rears his head. I’ve long gone on record suggesting that he is far better a defender than he is ever given credit for, and despite his Southampton side having a potentially record-breakingly bad Premier League campaign he has been far from their biggest problem.
Bednarek had to be substituted with a suspected concussion in the Saints’ last Premier League game against Liverpool, and speaking as someone who was at that game I feared the worst given every single person in the ground made a chorus of ‘ooh’ as he collided with his teammate. Immediately I suspected he might not make this squad depending on how serious the blow he sustained was, but it would appear Bednarek is well enough to at least be named by Probierz.
Jakub Kiwior is having what can charitably be described as a stalled career, sat as he is on Arsenal’s bench week after week. In fact, prior to Wednesday night’s dead rubber against PSV, Kiwior’s last appearance for the Gunners was also in their last Champions League game against Girona in January. You’d have to go back to December to see Kiwior register Premier League minutes, and I really would like to see him leave Arsenal this coming summer so that he can gain regular playing time. Journalist Mateusz Hawrot made the very salient point that Kiwior, like many, is a completely different player when he is getting that regular playing time which has been eluding him at Arsenal this season.
Kamil Piątkowski has been in Turkey with Kasimpasa these last few weeks, playing a lot of football and even notching an assist against Galatasaray. He hasn’t been helping his team to any clean sheets yet, but having watched a lot of the Süper Lig clean sheets are something of a rarity. I really hope Piątkowski has done enough in these last few months, both at club and international level, to become a nailed-on starter for Poland. I’m certainly of the opinion he should be, as he has a level of athleticism unique to himself in the squad, not to mention the fine goal he scored against Scotland in November.
Truth be told I’m also disappointed neither Tymoteusz Puchacz nor Michał Helik are involved in this squad. Puchacz has been very good since his move to the English Championship and the same is true of Helik. I get that with Cash back there is less room in the squad for defenders, but Puchacz is clearly a good character to have around the squad and now he can back up that with his performances on the pitch, making his omission even stranger for me.
Helik not being here I understand more, but for me he has been playing at a higher level (at least individually) with Oxford in England’s second tier than several of the other players named to this squad playing in top European divisions. The same can be said of Przemsyław Wiśniewski, in great form with a Spezia side who are on course to potentially be promoted to Serie A come the end of the season.
On that note, Bartosz Bereszyński’s inclusion is a real puzzler for me. I get having players with a wealth of experience, but Bereszyński has barely returned from the injury he got playing for Poland in November, and compared to the form of certain others it just makes no sense to me at all including him in this squad at the expense of players like Puchacz or Helik.
Midfielders
Again, the omission of Piotr Zieliński is the most glaring factor in this part of the pitch, but this can be braced with the fact we’d known about his calf injury since Sunday. His Inter teammate Nicola Zalewski is clearly fit enough to be called-up, a great relief given he hasn’t been present for his club for a couple of games now due to a minor muscle issue.
Jakub Moder has been nothing short of revelatory since joining Feyenoord in January, and I for one couldn’t be happier seeing his career take flight again after such a torrid time with injury and then with a lack of minutes. No question that Moder should start for Poland, and to think we’d all been quite unsure whether that would be the case just a few months ago.
Kacper Urbański is not having such a good time at club level. Out on loan at Monza who are bottom of Serie A, Urbański has had to play a deeper midfield role than he would like and now he isn’t even starting games for the club these past couple of weeks. Hopefully this will just be seen as character-building in the years to come, but right now it’s tough to see a talent like Urbański not get the time on the pitch or the right environment to develop properly.
What does bug me a little about this squad is that there are no new or returning faces that you would’ve thought could be worth taking a look at. Łukasz Łakomy has been having a decent enough season at Young Boys, certainly in terms of his Champions League exploits, and he really should be involved at some point on the international stage. I’ve thought that Łakomy could potentially be a real asset for Poland since his days at Zagłębie Lubin, and I still think he would have a lot to offer the national team squads.
Likewise I’m disappointed not to see Kacper Kozłowski in this squad, as with Zieliński out through injury I felt Kozłowski would be a shoe-in for a call-up. He has been really great this season over in Turkey, getting a match-winning assist on Monday evening, and he has had to pull out of several Poland squads in the last few years due to injury himself.
Lastly, and on a purely personal level, it’s a shame that the great form that Przemysław Płacheta enjoyed in December and January could not quite continue its momentum to see him in with a shout of this squad. I find him such an electric winger to watch that I hope to see him in a Poland shirt again someday, and for a little while recently it looked like Płacheta had a real shot at being in Probierz’s thoughts for these internationals. Obviously Płacheta just couldn’t quite carry it on to give Probierz a real headache, but there is always the summer if Płacheta finishes the season strongly at Oxford.
Strikers
Four very unsurprising names to read, and we all know Robert Lewandowski will lead Poland reliably in these World Cup qualifiers, likely his last World Cup should Poland get there. What’s more interesting to me is those that sit behind him in the pecking order, particularly the duo of Krzysztof Piątek and Karol Świderski.
Piątek’s red-hot scoring streak in the Turkish Süper Lig seems to have cooled a little of late, and in the dovetailing nature of the way these things seem to work, Świderski has started banging in the goals upon his return to Europe with Panathinaikos. I would not envy Probierz in terms of choosing who should be Lewandowski’s foil in that second striker role.
Historically Świderski has worked well alongside Lewy, but the last few times Świderski has started for Poland he has been disappointing. Piątek has not started as often as Świderski, but when he has he’s brought a busy energy to Poland’s attacks in a very different way than Świderski does.
Both of Poland’s games will take place at Stadion Narodowy in Warszawa, with their first against Lithuania coming next Friday night, before they play Malta the following Monday.
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