Poland’s squad for summer friendlies: Urban rings the changes for games against Ukraine and Nigeria

Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter

Yesterday, Jan Urban named the players he has seen fit to call up for Poland’s upcoming friendly matches against Ukraine and Nigeria, with plenty of inclusions (and exclusions) worth talking about. 

Now, normally at the end of the season, I would write an article detailing which Polish players have had the best individual seasons. For a variety of reasons (both myself and my computer overheating due to the UK’s current heatwave, a sense of lingering bitterness over Poland not qualifying for the upcoming World Cup etc.) I’ve decided not to do that, but hopefully you’ll enjoy this article regardless. 

Goalkeepers

Nice to see Marcin Bułka return, as even though he wasn’t incredible in that weird chopping and changing period under Michał Probierz, he is a decent goalkeeper. He has been out for a long time with injury and is only back playing again this past month, and I understand Urban perhaps wanting a closer look at him. 

It’s a shame that Kamil Grabara ended up relegated to the 2. Bundesliga with Wolfsburg on Monday night, but he’ll have plenty of options this summer presuming he sees himself at a higher level, which he almost certainly does. Despite the unbelievably poor season Wolfsburg have had, Grabara has been consistently decent on an individual level. Were I handing out an award for Poland’s player who performed best in difficult circumstances this season, Grabara would be the undisputed victor. As for the national team, I expect Grabara to remain very much in contention for the No.1 spot, even going forward when you presume Łukasz Skorupski returns to the fold.

Mateusz Kochalski has somewhat disappeared from the collective consciousness after Qarabag exited the Champions League, where he had been making some really impressive displays. 

A disappointment for many has been the lack of a call-up for Mateusz Lis, who for some is one of the Turkish Süper Lig’s best goalkeepers. He has been very good in a team which isn’t necessarily considered one of the bigger names, and it would’ve been interesting to see him in the squad, but would Urban see a situation where he picks him ahead of the other three? Clearly not, although he is probably closer in quality to them than you might initially assume.

Defenders

Aside from the usual suspects, it’s pleasing to see Kacper Potulski get his chance. For what it’s worth, right now I’d have him above both Przemysław Wiśniewski and Tomasz Kędziora in the pecking order. This is no slight on those players, but Wiśniewski hasn’t been great since his move to Widzew Łódź and Kędziora is no spring chicken. Still a teenager, Potulski has the opportunity to stake a real claim for a spot in future, more important Poland squads.

Norbert Wojtuszek and Oskar Wójcik are also here, and well done to them both, although again it does feel a little bit like they could be replaced by other players who, in my opinion, have either had better seasons or could offer more. I think it’s good that both are in this squad given the upcoming games are what they are, but I’d be surprised if we see them again in the autumn. 

There has been much hand-wringing about the fact that Wojciech Mońka did not get a call-up, and I have to say I would’ve liked to have seen it too. However, it seems that according to some suggestions, Urban didn’t want to risk overplaying some of Lech Poznań’s youngsters, which would go some way to explaining what looks like one of a few glaring omissions. Whether you believe that or not is up to you, I have to say I feel a little more cynically about it, but of course not everything is a conspiracy.

Midfielders

Again, this is more or less business as usual from Urban, although I say that with a little bit of a heavy heart. For many, the omissions of Bartosz Nowak and Antoni Kozubal are the ones that really sting, and I am inclined to agree, especially on Kozubal. However, the aforementioned “reasoning” to not call up Lech’s younger players like Mońka or Kozubal in case of overplaying them is presumably the explanation. As for Nowak, he is obviously not a young player, but he is undeniably one of the best (if not the best) in the Ekstraklasa this past season. I just about understand not calling up Nowak on the basis of that it would largely be purely symbolic, even if I think this is pretty much the only and best opportunity to do so. Nowak could well have had his fifteen minutes in one of these two games, and that would’ve been that, but alas.

I’m more disappointed personally at the lack of a call-up for Maxi Oyedele, who has been doing well after a rough spell with injury to finish the season adequately with Strasbourg. It’s even more disappointing when you look at the inclusions of Bartosz Kapustka, Jakub Piotrowski and Bartosz Slisz. 

Now, I think Kapustka is a capable player but in this situation I don’t really get calling him up over someone like Nowak, for example. As for Piotrowski, who has not really had a good game for Poland in maybe two years now, I don’t really understand this call-up even slightly. He’s not terrible, but he shouldn’t really be near the national team right now. Maybe again in the future, who knows, but I don’t get this call-up at all.

As for Slisz, it’s a tricky one. We’ve seen him be a solid, generally dependable option in Poland’s midfield for a couple of years now, and each Selekcjoner from Fernando Santos onwards has used him pretty frequently. I do feel, however, that we’ve kind of moved past the need to have Slisz as one of the main midfielders in the national team, and I worry calling him up here after a not exactly brilliant return to European football with Brondby seems like a conservative move.

Strikers

Again, debate to be had in this area, although not as much as in others. We’re leaning towards the assumption that these won’t actually be Robert Lewandowski’s last games for his country, and we can breathe a sigh of relief at that for now. Karol Świderski played very well in the ultimately fruitless play-off against Sweden, and then we have another two debutants in Karol Czubak and Mateusz Żukowski. 

It’s great to see both of those two included, particularly given the lack of freshness in the striker position for Poland in what feels like forever, the same four (sometimes five) names circling around for the last few years. I think that either of Czubak or Żukowski would, if they continue the electric form they have this season, be real contenders to be the third or fourth choice striker for Poland on a more permanent basis. If I were handing out the second of my prospective imagined awards, Żukowski would definitely earn the title of most improved player.

I, and a few others I’ve noticed on social media, are a little disappointed that Adrian Benedyczak wasn’t also included in this squad. Especially considering that since his move to Turkey in winter, his form has been pretty incredible, almost single-handedly ensuring Kasimpasa avoided relegation with relative ease in the end.

Beyond the aforementioned disappointments, the biggest is perhaps with Urban himself. These sorts of fixtures and the squad for them is always a difficult act to balance, obviously you presume he will want to call up younger players to get a good look at them, but has to still have a fair few of the experienced players around for a sense of continuity. 

I think Urban needs credit for what he has achieved so far with Poland, and there were understandable question marks after the loss to Sweden which seem to have intensified a little more with these call-ups. Frankly, it’s hard to keep everyone happy and this is basically the only juncture at which Urban will have the latitude to experiment, and it seems for the most part he’s doing it on his own terms even if that means disappointing several fans and pundits. 

In any case, the upcoming matches against Ukraine in Wrocław on Sunday and next Wednesday in Warszawa against Nigeria don’t really matter in the sense of result or really even the performance too much, but rest assured I like everyone else will be reporting on the games and blowing both the positives and negatives out of proportion. 

For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when new posts go live.