I just looked up some of her statistics from the two latest qualifying competitions that Poland participated in and found that her overall goal total at international level is somewhat misleading. Correct me if I'm wrong about any of this but these were my findings: In 2023 FIFA WWC qualifying, 3 of her 6 goals came in a 7-0 win over a clearly overmatched Kosovo and two more came against Albania. In the four matches against Norway and Belgium, the two top finishers in the group, she only scored once. Of the five goals she scored in Euro 2022 qualifying, three came against a clearly overmatched Moldova and the other two came against Azerbaijan. In the four matches against Spain and the Czech Republic, the two top finishers in the group, she scored zero goals. That means she has scored only one goal against legitimate competition across the two most recent qualifying tournaments. Her numbers at club level are clearly impressive as you correctly state, but she obviously has much better talent surrounding her at club level at every position. The numbers from games against top international competition suggest that she isn't really capable of carrying an average overall team on her shoulders and making them a true contender to qualify for or be competitive at a major tournament.
I should also continue my analysis with respect to the 2019 WWC qualifiers since that was another fairly recent tournament. In the qualifiers for 2019, Pajor scored four out of her five total goals against Belarus, which finished dead last in the group. Her only goal against the top two group finishers came in a loss, the head to head 2-1 loss to Switzerland. Also to clarify, the later head to head 0-0 draw between the two prevented Switzerland from possibly winning the group and automatically qualifying but Switzerland still easily qualified for the playoffs as one of the best runners up- eight points clear of Poland.
Poland was very unlucky having Ewa Pajor injuried for both qualifying campaingns :WWC 23 and EURO 21. She has played only 5 matches (out of 10) in WWC 2023 qual (injuried October 2021 till April 2022) and only 3 matches (out of 8) in EURO 2022 qual (knee surgery - out from September 2020 till March 2021). She was missing in key matches against Czech Republic for EURO 21 (few months later, and this time with Pajor on the pitch Poland trashed Czechia 5-0 in friendly) and as well for WWC 23 qual. matches vs. Belgium and Norway (difference is plain to see in 2 games when she was on the pitch against those teams) Poland WNT results against higher ranked opponents: with Pajor on the pitch and without her (her scoring record) 2019 Algarve Cup Poland 3 - 0 Spain (1 goal, 1 assist) Netherlands 0 - 1 Poland (1 assist) Poland 0 - 3 Norway Poland played reserves in final match vs. Norway due to players health safety - tournament schedule had 3 matches played across 6 days for POL Friendly Poland 1 - 1 Italy (1 goal) Finland 1 - 0 Poland Poland 1 - 3 Brazil 2019-2021 EURO 22 qual. Poland 0 - 0 Spain (Pajor's injuried in UWCL final September 2020 - following knee surgery means 7 months out) Czechia 0 - 0 Poland Poland 0 - 2 Czechia Spain 3 - 0 Poland 2021 Friendly Poland 2 - 4 Sweden (2 goals) Finland 2 - 2 Poland (1 goal, 1 assist) Czechia 0 - 5 Poland (2 goals, 1 assist) 2021-2022 WWC 23 qual Poland 1 - 1 Belgium (1 goal) (Pajor's injuried in October 2021, knee again - 6 months out) Poland 0 - 0 Norway Belgium 4 - 0 Poland Norway 2 - 1 Poland (1 assist) 2022 Friendly Poland 1 - 3 Iceland (1 goal) Poland 2 - 2 Argentina (1 assist) 2023 Friendly Poland 0 - 0 Switzerland Switzerland 1 - 1 Poland (1 goal) Poland WNT record against higher ranked opponents when "Pajorless": 0 wins 2 draws 4 loses, goals 0 - 12. Yeah I'd say, she is capable of carrying an average overall team on her shoulders.
So what are you going to inform my poor soul of next, that she also just so happened to miss the two qualifiers against Scotland and the 0-0 draw with Switzerland in the qualifiers for 2019? It wouldn't surprise me at this point. Wow, I thought it was a pretty safe assumption that if she was on the scoresheet or played some role in 4-5 matches out of the qualifiers that she more than likely played most of the other ones as well. I don't consider Algarve Cup and friendly statistics to be all that meaningful when analyzing any player though. Just double checked every single starting lineup (they used to be immediately visible on Wiki but now you have to look elsewhere) for 2019 qualifiers so I will never have to suffer like this again and confirmed she was on the pitch for both the 3-0 loss to Scotland and the 0-0 draw with Switzerland and was held scoreless in both games. She was also on the pitch for a 6-0 loss to Denmark and a dull 0-0 draw with Denmark in the 2017 qualifiers. Admittedly, Denmark ended up doing very well and overachieving at those Euros but still to lose 6-0 showed a clear gulf in class.
In 2017 Pajor was 20 years old - show me any player single handedly carring NT on her back at this age. Here something for you to ponder about. UWCL quaterfinal. Kasia Kiedrzynek has left the Paris club 3 years ago. She is playing tonite for opposing team. Match between PSG and Wolfsburg that is just about to start.... ...and this is how French fans welcome her on the stadium. "Kasia your imprint remains untouched" Speaking about household names
This example specifically was what threw me off the most. I thought for sure that if there had been any kind of long term injury during the campaign that she almost certainly wouldn't have returned in time to play a role at the end of the campaign as well. That's why I wrongfully assumed that she must have played the two matches in between. If her senior international career started in 2013 as you say and Wiki confirms, then she had four years of international experience of some sort under her belt by the time 2017 came along. So yes, even at 20 years old you would have expected her to contribute some sort of goalscoring to the cause against elite opponents, even if she wasn't ready to actually carry the entire team on her back quite yet. But by 2019 you would have expected her to do it for sure. I don't follow the UWCL all that closely. I'm a much bigger fan of and much more knowledgeable about the NWSL and major women's international tournaments. UWCL is not my area of expertise, although I do at least generally know which clubs are typically strong in that competition.
L'Equipe believe the Scandinavian bid is slightly ahead of the Swiss bid. They also say the French bid as no chance because.... The FFF has sacked their general director Florence Hardouin who is a well liked UEFA executive committee member. That sacking won't win us any vote lol.
So how is automatic qualifying going to work?. What about Poland?. It's already been in Scandinavia so many times already.
Polish journalists with the "insider" access are unofficially reporting that the whole thing most likely will play out between Poland's and the Scandinavian bid. The reason behind the postponement of the decision from December 2022 to April 2023 was suppousedly that most bidders offered too little money for tournament organization. According to press leaks from journalists close to the Polish Football Association (PZPN) officials of the Polish FA have confirmed that the PZPN does not intend to economise on the organisation of the tournament - on the contrary, the Polish bid is expected to be one of the most advantageous financially for UEFA.
If a single country organise the tournament, the host gets in, if multiple countries organise the tournament ie the Nordics a maximum of two teams will get automatic qualifying while everybody else will fight via the new Nations League qualifying format.
I’m surprised if the Nordic bid wins on Tuesday. It’s been here many times already, although in a smaller scale. Norway hosted 1987, Denmark 1991, Norway/Sweden in 1997, Finland in 2009 and Sweden again in 2013. I think Poland is the obvious choice if UEFA is looking to new markets. But what could possibly be the weak points in the Polish bid?
France is the best option, because they hosted the women's world cup, and Switzerland because of compactness.
I can really only find one... well not exactly very weak point but still... Outdated railway (80% of lines have max speed under 120 km/h) which means slow trains, which equals to longer travel times. Poland cities are well connected by highways, airports and railways but modernisation of railways for high speed rail started barely few years back and will take some time to finish (currently only 2% of lines have max speed above 160 km/h). (If in hurry - stick to flying and car rentals cuz travelling by rail can be quite a challenge ) Otherwise Poland bid is rather strong.
As I've learned in this thread, Poland seems to struggle mightily when Pajor is not on the pitch which would seem to indicate that they don't have a ton of squad depth beyond their first choice starting eleven. That could maybe be a weakness, along with just lack of major tournament experience in general. If Poland does end up hosting it- we'll find out in a few days- they may have an outside chance to qualify from their group because the hosts usually get an easier group stage draw, avoiding most of the other highest seeded teams in the draw. And home advantage always counts for something. In terms of the suitability of the country to host it though, I don't see any weak points in their bid. They would have more than enough host cities available and already have the experience of co-hosting a men's Euro back in 2012.
🇨🇭⚽🤩Basel statt Ballermann! Bern statt Benidorm! Zürich statt Zypern! Denn im Sommer 2025 bleiben wir definitiv zuhause - die WEURO 2025 findet bei uns statt!👉 https://t.co/LhYBcxdbRS📰 🇫🇷/🇮🇹 👇 pic.twitter.com/BNgoE3OGhF— Swiss Football Association (@sfv_asf) April 4, 2023
🇨🇭 Switzerland have been appointed hosts of the 2025 UEFA Women’s EURO!@WEURO | #WEURO2025 pic.twitter.com/X7pvrMweke— UEFA (@UEFA) April 4, 2023
Seems like that was a bit of an upset but the Swiss seem to have put in the effort to improve their national team fortunes. Hope they put on a great show!
French media reports we were out after the first round of votes As expected, but still what a shit-show for us.
Just a reminder of the qualifying format now we know that only one host place will be given. 1 Host ( Switzerland) 4 League A winners 4 League A runners-up 7 play-offs Round 2 winner The League B teams this season have a big incentive to win their group and get promoted to League A for the Euro qualifiers.
It's so stupid, the Nations League format should be kept exclusively for the Nations League like in men's football. This is a great way to ensure everyone stays in their own rank and never competes against the bigger teams.
But why change something that didn't need fixing? The standard qualifying groups as they were for 20+ years were just fine.