Poland’s squad for the World Cup play-offs: Pietuszewski included as expected, but experience remains the order of the day

Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter

Earlier today, Jan Urban named his selection of the 25 players he believes can take Poland to this summer’s World Cup. 

Whilst there was the expected and welcome news that prodigious teenager Oskar Pietuszewski receives his first senior call-up, many are dismayed that other young Polish talents have been overlooked in favour of established, dare I say “veteran” players.

When other squads in the past have been announced I’ve tended to go through position by position, but that doesn’t really seem necessary here. Rather, we’ll address a couple of talking points, doing my best to start with the goalkeepers and work my way up the pitch, as it were. 

Kamil Grabara is in the midst of a horror show at club level, yet he will likely be Poland’s No.1 for this international break on account of Łukasz Skorupski’s injury. For Grabara, it’s a chance to show perhaps to a slightly greater level than in November’s game against the Dutch that he can really step into this role and maybe even make it his own. Getting out of the circus that currently is Wolfsburg will do him no harm either, add in the fact he will have a settled, hopefully confident defence in front of him and I think Grabara will be just fine.

As many pundits have pointed out, Wolfsburg would be doing even worse without some of Grabara’s performances, so to still see some fans acting reductively and suggesting Poland are in a terrible state having the keeper for the team sitting 17th in the Bundesliga start for his country, is disappointing. It’s a little bit ironic that whilst Grabara was not getting called-up there were lots of people whinging that he deserved opportunities in goal for his country, and that now that is happening, some people are still unhappy. 

Defensively there are no great shocks (save one), we generally think we know what the back three will look like and Matty Cash will operate as the wing-back on the right-hand side. I’m pleased to see Arkadiusz Pyrka is still entrusted as the cover in that position, as like Grabara he is also doing well in trying circumstances near the foot of the German top flight. 

As for that shock, it’s that we have Bartosz Bereszyński included. Let’s be frank, it’s hard to get too excised about someone who likely will not see the pitch for Poland in these next two weeks, but I agree with the sentiment that he is essentially robbing a place of a much younger defender. The toss-up for many fans was having either Mainz’s Kacper Potulski or Lech Poznań’s Wojciech Mońka. I personally would’ve had Potulski, although Mońka is approaching the level where he should be considered more seriously by the Selekcjoner. 

The argument, and it is a sensible one, is that given the high stakes nature of this international break for Poland, off-field experience will be very valuable and Bereszyński’s inclusion obviously satisfies this criteria. Were it not the play-offs, I think everybody would be well within their rights to be extremely irritated, but looking more circumspect there are inevitably members of these squads who don’t play, so you may as well bring the most experienced names available without compromising the quality in reserve. 

There’s also a storm brewing around Sebastian Walukiewicz. According to Urban and Jacek Magiera, Walukiewicz didn’t want to report to one of the squads back in the autumn, so he won’t be receiving a call-up for the foreseeable future. Walukiewicz’s agent denies this version of events, and I’m sure this will rumble on for a few days. I’m inclined to back the coaching staff here, not least because much as Walukiewicz is a perfectly good Serie A defender, I don’t really see him coming into a starting XI for Poland and making a massive positive impact. 

In the midfield we of course see Pietuszewski named, and there has been some debate today about whether he will start in the Albania game for which Nicola Zalewski is suspended. I think Urban will surprise us and give him at least an hour on the pitch, right from the start. 

Due to the nature of the squad and what some journalists and pundits perceive to be a calm, cautious approach that Urban is taking here, many have suggested there is less chance of Pietuszewski being put in the starting line-up than many fans would like. Whether this will be the case or not we’ll find out next week, but I think Urban would like to have him there from the off rather than introducing him in what could be a situation with even greater pressure. 

Pietuszewski is doing things at Porto that we haven’t really seen from any other Polish teenager ever before in terms of the trust shown in him and level of competition he is playing at, and playing very well in I should hasten to add. It’s very easy for us all to get carried away but it’s not without evidence. I really think he can make a big difference for Poland against Albania, be it from the start or off the bench. I think Urban will start him and I think this would be the right thing to do, but given some of the more cautionary comments Urban has tended to make around Pietuszewski this could obviously go either way.

There is also consternation over the call-up for Kamil Grosicki, but it’s basically identical to the situation people are wringing their hands over with Bereszyński’s selection. He’s not really stealing anyone’s place, and before I get a flood (well, a trickle perhaps) of comments about Bartosz Nowak I just don’t think he’s getting any kind of significant time on the pitch over the other names on this list, regardless of whether he’s in great form in the Ekstraklasa or not. 

I’m really pleased to see Jakub Moder named here, too. It’s been another rough and injury-ruined season for him, but ever since he started playing for Feyenoord again at the very end of January, he’s been versatile and dependable, not to mention he’s completed 90 minutes on five occasions. There is an argument that if Poland require a more defensively-minded midfielder on the pitch during these play-offs, Moder gets in ahead of Bartosz Slisz on form. 

Up front Adam Buksa obviously misses out through injury, and we have the same other three familiar names. This is fine, but I do think having a young player like Marcel Reguła included for the experience of being in a training camp would’ve been a perfectly fine thing to do. Or, if you think you may need something a bit more concrete, Karol Czubak and Mateusz Żukowski have been somewhat banging in the goals this season. It’s a pity we see no fourth-choice striker, but it’s unlikely to make a huge difference having what is essentially a guaranteed bench-warmer there just for the unlikely event there is a situation where Urban deems it necessary to go for it with four centre-forwards. 

I’ll be back to preview the Albania game next Thursday, and maybe even before then. In the meantime, let’s see what the last weekend before the international break gives us to discuss. 

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