Poland play France tomorrow at Al Thumama in what will be the first World Cup knockout tie for the Biało-Czerwoni since 1986. Most pundits see this game as a foregone conclusion, with reigning champions France hotly tipped by many to defend their title.
In the Poland camp, things are less rosy. There is joy at breaking the unwanted streak of being knocked in the groups, but also hesitancy as to how far Czesław Michniewicz’s defensive brand of football can get such a talented group of players.
Today there has been much discussion and many quotes regarding the tactical plan for tomorrow afternoon’s clash as well as if there has been an automatic extension of Michniewicz’s contract due to reaching the round of sixteen.
I’ll delve into this in slightly more detail in a moment, but first the predicted starting XI for Poland:
We can expect the starting XI to be the same as the one featured against Saudi Arabia given that it is the only game which Poland have won so far. Whilst they displayed some defensive fragility in that match I expect Michniewicz to return to this system, largely because he employed a similar system against Argentina, but with Karol Świderski instead of Arek Milik. That is a change which I don’t think Poland can afford to make if they are serious about making a go of this game.
On that issue, it’s been reported that Michniewicz has had the squad practicing penalties in the hope of taking the game the full 120 minute distance, although Michniewicz himself said in today’s press conference that that for France to make mistakes, Poland have to pressure them into said mistakes. Bartosz Bereszyński has also been more bullish, speaking to Przegląd Sportowy and that the team is going to be “efficient” and that “we don’t want to play beautifully and lose 4-0.”
I don’t think anyone is under the impression that Poland will do anything other than play as defensively as possible, and for all of my criticism of Michniewicz he is a manager who values results over performance and often gets those results, although obviously this match is likely to be a step too far. However, it would be stupid to declare the result before the game has been played.
The president of the PZPN, Cezary Kulesza, has also been addressing press reports that Michniewicz’s contract has already been extended on account of getting out of Group C, stating that the time to talk about Michniewicz’s contract is after the tournament. Personally, I think that it’s high time someone was allowed time in the role of Selekcjoner in order to breed familiarity and build a consistent squad, I’m just not sure that Michniewicz is the right man to do that.
For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when new posts go live.
Kommentare