The dominant topics of discussion with a few weeks until Poland’s World Cup play-offs

Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter

We’ve entered what is, in effect, a month of reckoning for the Polish national team. This is a pretty serious way of looking at it, but given the fact that pundits and fans are very keen to stick the boot in when it comes to underperformance, we do have to look at it in such a way. 

Of course, I too have been prone to this in the past, but the last time we had an international break it seemed like Poland were in a pretty healthy place under Jan Urban. A little consternation was caused about the casual display against Malta, but one would assume these mistakes would not be made again. 

I say this with an air of caution, but Poland have successfully qualified for the past five tournaments and, should they win both of these games at the end of March, a potential sixth. 

With that in mind, there are some very disparate threads all connected by the fact that Poland will be playing in less than twenty days, from the call-ups that may be needed to possible injury problems. 

What is clear is that thanks to the body of work Urban has put together in his eight or so months as Selekcjoner, the tactical shape of his side will be pretty consistent even if the individual roles can sometimes vary. 

So, off we go on connecting the last week and a bit of action with who will be part of the squad Jan Urban will pick with the aim of achieving World Cup qualification.

First up, as has been for the past several weeks, is Oskar Pietuszewski. Quite seriously, since his move to Porto he has been making more headlines for those invested in Polish football than almost any other name it seems, but there is good reason for this. Last Friday night, he became the fastest goalscorer in Porto’s history with his first goal for the club against Arouca. 

Pietuszewski’s goal was a real show of bravery, sliding in at the back post and colliding with said post in the process. Due to the goal initially being flagged offside, it was given upon VAR review. Whilst it may not have felt like it to the naked eye, history books will now show for the foreseeable future that it is the fastest goal in Porto history. 

Let’s be honest, as much as Jan Urban is posturing that he really isn’t sure if Pietuszewski will be called-up for these play-offs, it’s pretty unconscionable if he isn’t. This isn’t exactly the same as when young Polish talents have received important call-ups, because on account of Nicola Zalewski’s suspension (more on that later), Poland need someone who would be able to deputise in that position. 

Now, there is of course the fact that fans and pundits clamouring for a young player to be included in the side can sometimes cause a bit of a distraction, but I don’t really feel it in the case of Pietuszewski for a couple of reasons. He’s clearly one of Poland’s more prodigious attacking talents in recent years, and even though he’s still just 17 he has a wealth of experience in senior football, not to mention his stellar record for the Polish youth teams. 

In my book, Pietuszewski should certainly be called-up and furthermore should be starting against Albania on the 26th. Not simply because of Zalewski’s absence, although this is a factor, but because Pietuszewski deserves it on the form he has shown all season with the U-21s, Jagiellonia Białystok and now Porto. 

Moving on and I think it’s worth speaking about Mateusz Żukowski. Here we have a player that, if we’re honest, many of us had sort of forgotten about. After breaking through as a winger, he pivoted to becoming something of an attacking right-back, and now at Magdeburg in the 2. Bundesliga he has become a bonafide centre forward. 

Żukowski has played striker on other occasions before this season with Magdeburg, but this is his first campaign where you can definitely call him a striker. A return of 11 goals in 12 league games, with two assists as well, and this is a player that we should really be talking about a bit more than we are in regards to the national team. 

Obviously, Robert Lewandowski will be Poland’s captain and starting striker until the day he retires, this is pretty much accepted, and for good reason. However, in the tier below that we have experienced names not having brilliant seasons. 

Karol Świderski finds himself largely out of favour at Panathinaikos and the goals have dried up, Adam Buksa struggles for minutes and with injury at Udinese (albeit he did score last weekend) and Krzysztof Piątek was suffering with a goal drought for a large part of the winter over in Qatar. Arkadiusz Milik hasn’t meaningfully kicked a ball in over 18 months and you have to go back to the 40-man shortlist compiled by Czesław Michniewicz before the last World Cup to see the name “Dawid Kownacki”. 

Let’s not forget all of these are around 30 years of age; Żukowski is 24. Old enough to have seen a wealth of albeit not quite top level football, but young enough to potentially see this goalscoring form rewarded with a surprise call-up.

We should indeed say that despite the goals-to-games ratio, a call-up for Żukowski would still absolutely constitute a surprise. It’s sort of for that reason I sadly don’t see it happening. For the pressure of the situation, Urban is going to stick with the same four names we’ve seen pretty much uninterrupted for the last few years. For all the arguments about form, blooding a second-division player like Żukowski who is enjoying his first full-time year as a striker won’t be a priority with what is at stake. It’s a shame, but there is a logical argument to overlooking Żukowski. 

Speaking of goalscorer and the aforementioned Lewandowski, the sharp decline in minutes and the expected departure of Lewy from Barcelona does represent something of a concern heading into these play-offs. Not a serious concern, given he still managed to score a goal off the bench for Barca last Saturday and then end up with a broken cheekbone (a mask will be worn should he take to the pitch tonight against Bilbao). 

The biggest concern for me around Lewandowski would be if he has to play 90+ minutes against Albania, and potentially then another 90+ minutes a few days later, will he be able to cope given his reduction in game time of late?

Look, we all know Lewandowski is a serious athlete but he is at an age now where that kind of sudden, increased load could be an issue. I hope it won’t be, but it is worth pointing out as several journalists already have. 

Now, long-term readers of this site will not find it a surprise to learn I’m not losing sleep over the injury to Paweł Wszołek which looks likely to keep him out of these two games for Poland. I don’t hate Wszołek, I just find him often very frustrating to watch. There is a need in those wing-back spots however given reports of a minor injury to Matty Cash, so insurance is required in that department. 

I’m not sure what level of insurance Arkadiusz Pyrka might provide, but he looks to be the most sensible option. He’s capable of being a wing-back on either side, he starts for St. Pauli in the Bundesliga most weeks and he was a part of other Poland squads under Jan Urban. I would say he will almost certainly be called up, although I very much doubt he will be used unless absolutely necessary. 

As for someone who only might be called up and used if absolutely necessary, what about Łukasz Łakomy? I’ve been banging on about him quite a bit the last few months, on account of his form and versatility at Leuven in Belgium. Now though, I’m seeing quite a few others in Poland take note and reference him as somebody with an outside chance at making the squad. 

There are other factors to consider here, and I’ll mention them later on, but given the fact that Poland should really be looking for someone a little bit more in-form than Bartosz Kapustka, I’d be having Łakomy as a squad option in the midfield. Of course, Urban will still pick Kapustka almost regardless I imagine, but perhaps Łakomy may sneak in either now or in the future. 

A name that hasn’t been mentioned for a while is Jakub Moder, and for good reason: he has sadly been injured again for most of this season, only returning at the start of February. It was an alleged hernia problem, and you can’t help but feel so sorry for the way Moder’s career has panned out since that devastating knee injury four years ago. 

However, I’m not advocating for Moder to get a place in the squad on pity. In the five games since he has returned from injury, he’s had one assist and completed 90 minutes in three of them. That would certainly suggest he is match fit already, no mean feat after such a long layoff.

Given what has been years of talking about the lack of options or the need for balance in Poland’s midfield, you would assume Moder gets into the squad if he is deemed fit enough. I don’t think he’s the automatic starter he once would’ve been, but Moder would be the best and likeliest “fresh” inclusion, if you could call him that. 

A definite and guaranteed starter, not to mention the vice-captain, will be Piotr Zieliński, enjoying a vein of form so rich this season at Inter Milan that he was crowned the club’s Player of the Month for February, his 90th minute winner in the Derby d’Italia against Juventus surely helping his cause. 

Zieliński has had a really great season, no doubt about it. He’s also shown it in a Poland shirt towards the back end of last year, and the argument for a couple of years now has been that he might even be more influential to the side than Lewandowski. 

For the obvious reason he is a midfielder, Zieliński does enjoy more of the ball and does influence the general rhythm of the game more than Lewandowski, and there is a line of thinking that Probierz and now Urban have perhaps built Poland to function more around Zieliński than Lewandowski. This has pros and cons, naturally, but when it works it really works well. In my view, Zieliński will be Poland’s most important player in these play-offs. It’s maybe an obvious statement of fact, but it’s worth reiterating.

I did mention injuries earlier on, and to be frank the only ones that really matter in terms of discussion are to those that would’ve likely started or those who still might. There have been reports in the English press that Matty Cash will likely be able to participate in Aston Villa’s Europa League game this coming week, so nothing too much to worry us all there. 

A bigger worry would be the potential absence of Jan Bednarek with a rib injury which forced him off whilst playing for Porto against Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday. According to the Portuguese press, Bednarek has avoided serious injury but faces a race against time to be fit for tomorrow’s heavyweight clash with Benfica. 

So, realistically there are no major injury concerns with 20 days to go, but Bednarek’s injury does get me thinking about something Jan Urban said in the aftermath of Poland’s last game against Malta. He said that there was no definitive starter for the third central defender in his back three, meaning that Bednarek and Jakub Kiwior’s positions are guaranteed. Przemysław Wiśniewski has been the most frequent to appear in that position, save for when he was suspended and Jan Ziółkowski stepped in against Holland in November. 

With Ziółkowski making more appearances for Roma over the winter, that spot feels a little bit more of a contest than it did between Wiśniewski and Ziółkowski. I believe that Urban will still elect to start Wiśniewski, but you can make an equally good case that Ziółkowski should be Poland’s third centre half. 

Lastly, even though we’ve already really addressed it at the top of this article, Nicola Zalewski is suspended for the match with Albania. I, like many others, are of the opinion that Oskar Pietuszewski will be called up and fill this position, but it does raise an interesting question. 

Zalewski has been in pretty consistently strong form since at least Christmastime, but if Pietuszewski comes in and has a player of the match-esque performance, does he get his place back for a potential second play-off? Zalewski hasn’t been as great for Poland under Urban as he was under Probierz, but he’s still a more experienced player with a strong history of national team appearances under his belt. 

I’m firmly of the belief Zalewski will be called up under the expectation Poland progress past Albania, as he should be. Whether he would go straight back in the starting line-up would be interesting, although I’ve a feeling he probably would. 

We’ll likely find out the squad for the play-offs in just under two weeks’ time, and there are obviously a few things such as injuries (although hopefully not) which could change matters. Until then however, let’s hope that some of the names mentioned can either stay in form or find that extra gear. 

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