Will Rafał Gikiewicz ever play for Poland?

Image via Vitalii Vitleo/Shutterstock

It’s been well-documented to the point where it’s a become a running joke: Rafał Gikiewicz hasn’t yet got a single cap for Poland, despite receiving a call-up in summer 2019. He’s been a top-flight keeper in Germany since Union Berlin’s promotion in the same summer, first with Union and now with Augsburg.

Despite this impressive credentials and his rather vocal hopes of earning a cap for his country, he is now 35, and those hopes dwindle further with each squad’s announcement. There’s arguably no room for a veteran between the sticks even in a friendly for Poland, as that spot would either go to current number two Łukasz Skorupski (as it did against Chile in November) or a younger option like Bartłomiej Drągowski or Kamil Grabara (as it did in the Nations League last summer).

Time is clearly running out, but perhaps his fortunes will be different with Fernando Santos. Skorupski is not having his best season with an inconsistent Bologna side, whereas Gikiewicz has been more than decent this season with Augsburg. He illustrated this last night against Bayer Leverkusen, helping Augsburg to a 1-0 home win. Gikiewicz was pretty composed throughout, and it does seem almost like he’s being deliberately refused a cap for Poland.

Of course, many great players don’t get capped for their country; Gikiewicz would be just another example. However, I think it’d be a deserved reward for the good form he has shown this season in Germany if Fernando Santos were to give him his first, and likely only, cap for the Biało-Czerwoni.

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