Poland 1-1 Holland: A very good display from the Biało-Czerwoni, all things considered

Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter

A slightly under-strength Poland managed to earn a 1-1 draw against the Dutch at Stadion Narodowy in Warszawa. 

Jakub Kamiński’s opener at the close of the first half was cancelled out by a Memphis delay leveller shortly after the second half began, although it has to be said that for large parts of both halves it was Poland who were the more threatening team. 

Nicola Zalewski missed a gilt-edged chance barely a minute into the contest, as a Matty Cash crossed bounced just in front of the onrushing Atalanta man, who guided it as best he could but still off target. 

Not much of the game had been played before yet another injury affected Poland. Already missing Łukasz Skorupski and Jan Bednarek from this international break, Sebastian Szymański became a casualty with what appeared to be a groin problem. 

As the first half wore on, Poland began to sit deeper and deeper. There were a few strong attacks, but every action was just lacking the final shot or pass. This was until Kamiński drove up the pitch, and played a nice one-two with Robert Lewandowski. Kamiński just about outpaced Virgil van Dijk and slid the ball under Bart Verbruggen.

Unfortunately, it was only 90 seconds into the second half before a Cody Gakpo cross was hung up to the back post, lost in the air by Kamil Grabara and Donyell Malen managed to steal in front of Michał Skóraś. Grabara did very well to save Malen’s header off the goal line, but he could only parry it back into a dangerous area where Depay slid in to equalise. 

Pleasing to see however was Poland going right up the other end and nearly equalising through a Lewandowski half-chance, but there were few other real clear cut opportunities for Poland to really test Verbruggen. 

Unfortunately there was a slight sour point, in that several flares were launched onto the pitch in protest to the prohibition on fan displays. Whilst I understand the frustration, you feel a different method of demonstration might have been more salient given recent attitudes in Western Europe around Polish supporters, which speaking as a Western European seem to be borne out of ignorance and stereotype. It’s a shame that these images may well feed into that negative perception, when clearly it’s a cause most fans the world over would get behind. 

Testament to how well Poland are playing under Jan Urban is the fact that in the immediate aftermath there is a shared sense of mild disappointment, as if you look at the statistics Poland could well have ended up winning tonight’s match. 

As for individuals, Kamiński would be the obvious standout performer, but Piotr Zieliński commanded the midfield well and Zalewski grew into the game right up until the point he ran out of energy. Jan Ziółkowski had a great first half and Lewandowski looked sharp, but ended up mostly getting penalised for being reciprocal with shoulder barges on the Dutch defenders. Skóraś and Grabara are getting a bit of criticism over the goal, but both had otherwise good games. Special mention also to Tomasz Kędziora, considering the difficult task he faced stepping into the middle of defence as the experienced option after a few years away from playing for the national team. 

Another pleasing factor is that considering at least four of Urban’s first-choice starting eleven were absent and a fifth had to come off after less than a quarter of an hour, they still played great football and earned a more than solid point. His reworked style of play paid dividends for the most part, even if the Dutch performance was a bit half-hearted at times.

It feels like the whole time I’ve been running this website, we’ve been having the discussion about Poland’s style of play and more specifically the level of entertainment and enjoyment derive from it. No secret was the lack of enthusiasm I had for Czesław Michniewicz’s defence-first tactics, which often didn’t really even work from a defensive standpoint. Fernando Santos’ eight months was a car crash in both style and results (save that one game against Germany) and Michał Probierz managed to develop a better style of play and often decent results before that obviously crashed and burned. 

What is so refreshing with Urban’s Poland (so far at least) is that the results and the enjoyable football are going hand in hand. It helps that his most crucial player to the system in Kamiński is in top form at present, but nonetheless everything really seems to be working out right now. 

Poland are guaranteed a playoff place no matter what thanks to results this evening, and on the current evidence you have to feel optimistic about qualifying for next year’s World Cup. 

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