European qualification takes a backwards step for now, Lewandowski off the mark in Chicago and yet more transfer rumours
It’s time for another wide-ranging update of what I believe to the most interesting stories worth talking about in Polish football over the course of the last two weeks or so. As you can see from the title of this article, I’ll be mostly focusing on three particular topics, but I’ll also be gently throwing ahead to the next meeting of the Polish national team, which granted is still over a month away but worth mentioning in brief.
First, we have to talk about how Polish clubs are getting on in their endeavours to qualify for the league phases of the European competitions, and sadly this means we start with Lech Poznań. I know this happened last week, but for those of you living under a rock, Lech managed to collapse and let slip a 4-1 aggregate lead at home against Aarhus in Champions League qualifying. Despite taking the lead again in extra time, Lech ended up losing on penalties after having taken the lead in that shootout as well.
There’s no getting around it, it was probably one of the most damaging results I’ve seen a Polish side have in European qualifying in recent years, perhaps since Lech lost to Spartak Trnava in Conference League qualifying. I don’t like using the phrase “bottling” as I think it can be quite reductive, but I don’t know how else you would refer to the Lech performance last Wednesday.
Disappointment and anger was quite rightly followed up by a margin of resignation from most fans and pundits, and it did feel a little bit like the same old story when it came to having any kind of self-confidence placed in Polish football. I know many Polish clubs have had shock defeats at this part of the season when trying to get into the European competitions, but this one was really on another level of disappointing.
Trying as best I can to remain positive, and in fairness I have seen a small number of journalists say this as well, but Lech getting into the Europa League would still be a pretty decent achievement all things considered. If we’re honest, it’s where they likely would’ve ended up anyway, just in a few more qualifying rounds’ time.
Tonight Lech face Klaksvik in an attempt to get their European aims back on track, and whilst I wouldn’t want to get ahead of myself after the confident claims we all made two weeks ago, I think they still have the capabilities to be playing in the Europa League this autumn.
Górnik Zabrze acquitted themselves well against a strong Fenerbahce side in both legs of their Champions League qualifiers, and can feel relatively proud of the fight they put up, losing 1-2 on aggregate and managing to earn a 1-1 draw at home last week. Not wanting to get ahead of myself a second time in as many paragraphs, but Górnik were a bit unlucky to lose 1-0 away in Hungary last night against Ferencvaros, and I think the return leg next week might see them sneak through to the next round of the Europa League qualifiers.
As for the other two Polish clubs in Conference League qualifying, Raków Częstochowa managed to sweep Valletta aside quite comfortably in the end, so much so it’s not that interesting to talk about, and GKS Katowice secured a dramatic passage to the next round thanks to a couple of late-ish goals against Zilina. This week, both teams face sterner tests, but I still think that Raków can beat Hammarby and GieKSa can beat Hapoel Tel Aviv.
We’ll also see Jagiellonia Białystok commence their Europa League qualifying tonight, with a really tricky tie against Rangers. I wouldn’t put it past Jagiellonia to get through this round, but it will be a really hard task and you have to acknowledge their underdog status here.
I’ve seen a few people yet again thinking that Polish clubs should now think of themselves as a little bit above the Conference League, and yet again I have to respectfully disagree with that statement. It’s clear that some Polish clubs are capable of playing in the next level of European competition, but the fact of it is that at least Polish clubs have been getting into the early knockout rounds of the Conference League in recent years, with the quarters being reached on three occasions, and I’m not sure it’s realistic to say that Lech, Górnik or Jagiellonia could perform similarly in the Europa League this season. Lech could feasibly get into the early knockout rounds, but whether the other two even get to the league phase seems like a pretty big question right now. There is a sense of taking the coefficient points Polish clubs have earned through the Conference League for granted, and I cannot understand this burning desire to prove we’re seemingly above a competition that has served Polish football very well over the last four years.
Anyway, I’ve spoken several times about that particular issue on this website, so I’ll move on and talk about Robert Lewandowski getting his first goals in the MLS with Chicago Fire this past weekend.
It should go without saying that I’m pleased to see him score, especially as they were an important brace in a 2-1 victory over Charlotte, as well as the fact that both goals were taken really well by Lewandowski. It was also a good way to begin the process of shutting down the discussion that actually, this wasn’t a good move for Lewandowski and he wasn’t even going to do that well in the MLS.
Honestly, some of the things I was reading prior to these goals going in were ridiculous. I was seeing some people throwing around the name “Jarosław Niezgoda”, a player I had completely forgotten about for the best part of three years. Making declarative statements about arguably Poland’s greatest ever footballer, comparing him to run-of-the-mill (if decent) Ekstraklasa strikers who moved to the MLS and scored a couple of goals on their debuts was absolutely ridiculous behaviour.
Lewandowski’s goals should still be caveated before we get carried away in the other direction though, of course. The real test to see whether he can still contribute at a higher level will likely come next month with the national team, but I do get the sense that the reason Lewandowski picked the MLS over continuing in Europe might be in order to prolong his national team career, although this is merely educated guesswork based on the similar approach taken by someone like Lionel Messi.
Moving on, the transfer story (or potential transfer story) that caught my eye most this past fortnight was of course the most eye-catching in terms of an export from the Ekstraklasa, and what better way to live up to this website’s name than speaking about it.
I am of course referring to the credible reports by Tomasz Włodarczyk and others that Borussia Dortmund are seeking to secure the services of 19 year-old Marcel Reguła from Zagłębie Lubin. After having rightly been crowned the Ekstraklasa’s Young Player of the Season, and playing well with Poland’s U-21s last season, I think most keen observers of Polish football expected Reguła to get a big move this summer. There were a slew of reports naming Benfica and Köln as the clubs willing to swoop for him, although Benfica allegedly balked at the asking price. Borussia Dortmund however seem in a good position to secure Reguła’s services, should they wish. The current transfer activity from Dortmund seems to be a return to their old recruitment policy of snapping up young players who may well the be the next big thing, blooding them in the first team and selling them for big money as they flourish into superstars.
Reguła is presumably someone Dortmund have identified as potentially being one of these wonderkids, and given that according to Włodarczyk the head of their scouting department watched Reguła live from the stands against Legia Warszawa on Sunday afternoon, you would think a transfer might well happen in the next week or so.
There is the caveat with these sorts of deals that in fact the young player will be playing for the development team, before eventually moving to a team which can provide the playing time they require, I’m thinking here of someone like Dariusz Stalmach for example. However, this is perhaps a lazy comparison from me, as Stalmach was a lot younger than Reguła is now and there seems to be a very clear plan this summer with Dortmund’s transfer activity which Reguła would fit into well.
Last but not least, I wanted to quickly mention the Polish national team, Selekcjoner Jan Urban and what’s likely to happen between now and the squad announcement for September/October. It's worth remembering that this autumn will see the international break structured differently to previous years, so it will actually be quite an interesting set of circumstances as national teams adjust to this new schedule.
In recent weeks a story started to circulate that there was a section of the PZPN leadership that had begun to lose faith in Jan Urban. Whilst I can’t comment on the credence of this story, I see no reason to doubt that after the failure to secure World Cup qualification and the apathy around the friendly matches in the summer, some people in positions of power might be getting a little uncomfortable about the fact Urban’s contract was extended on the back of that play-off loss in Sweden.
Personally, I don’t think the knives are out for Urban yet from the general public in the same way they were for Michał Probierz a good couple of months before he eventually resigned, having brought the situation to a head. For better or worse, Urban comes across as a much more measured character, and I can’t see how he ends up axed from his role unless these first four Nations League games (still over a month away) go really badly.
I get the sense that some of these stories around Urban might be to do with the fact that Maciej Skorża has been available since the end of April, having parted ways with Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan. Cezary Kulesza is well-known to have sought Skorża for the role of Selekcjoner on at least two separate occasions, but both times was rebuffed despite openly stating Skorża was his first-choice. There was the suggestion that Skorża didn’t much fancy working with the current PZPN administration, and given nothing has changed in that regard, I don’t really understand this story about Urban being potentially ousted. This really does seem like something out of nothing, at least as far as I can see.
Regardless, Urban faces a tricky task preparing for the games this autumn. The headline will be whether or not Lewandowski continues his international career, and I think it’s likely he will, but then we also have the question of what kind of form will he be in. Then Urban will have to wrestle with some of his other big names adjusting to new clubs, and there is a big question mark still over the long term future of the goalkeeper position.
Like I said, I’ll speak about all of these potential issues closer to the time. Meanwhile, let’s keep our fingers crossed that Poland still has four teams in European qualification in another two weeks.
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