POLAND PROFILE Poland generally plays the 4-4-2, sometimes adding a third striker. The coach is Pawel Janas, himself a third place winner at the 1982 World Cup. GOALKEEPERS - As of right now the number 1 keeper is undecided, but if the world cup were tomorrow, it would be Artur Boruc. 1) Artur Boruc(1980, Celtic FC) – He came from Legia Warsaw on a season long loan. Started the season on the bench, but after two games was in and has started every game since. He is a strong and commanding keeper. Pretty tall keeper at 6ft. 4 in. Has played very well for Celtic this year and has since taken over the number 1 job for Poland over Jerzy Dudek. Still fairly young, at 26. Chances of making squad – 100% Chances of playing – 70% 2) Jerzy Dudek(1973, Liverpool FC) – Everyone knows this keeper after his Champions League performance. He has not played first team football all year and is looking for a transfer. I think his prime is past him. He is good tactically in net and has very quick reactions. After the transfer window opens, it will be easier to characterize him. Chances of making squad – 100% Chances of playing – 30% 3) Sebastian Przyrowski(1981, Groclin Grodzisk) – Another young keeper with lots of potential. He won’t play, unless all goes wrong and out top two go out with injuries. Chances of making squad – 0-50% Chances of playing – 2% 4) Wojciech Kowalewski(1977, Spartak Moscow) – Don’t really know much about him, but he’s listed on the polish football federation website. Hes played a few games for the national side, but once again, unless everything goes wrong, he won’t even be flying there. Chances of making squad – 0-25% Chances of playing – 2% 5) Tomasz Kuszczak(1982, West Bromwich Albion) – Doesn’t really play much behind Kirkland, but I’ve seen him 3 or 4 times this year and I liked what I saw. And he’s only 23. Only played one game for the national team. Chances of making squad – 0-20% Chances of playing – 2% DEFENSE Poland’s defensive line is by far the most maligned formation. With the best defensive players approaching “over the hill” status, and no clear replacements in sight, our defensive line, although physical and big, can be exploited by virtually any team that includes fast, technically skilled midfields and forwards. MICHAL ZEWLAKOW: (1976, Anderlecht Brussels) A reliable defender who can play either on left or right side of the four man defensive line up. Can mark man very well, but not spectacular offensively. A typical defensive “worker” type. Chance of starting: 80% Chance of being called up for the WC: 100% MARCIN BASZCZYNSKI: (1977, Wisla Krakow) Almost a guarantee to be on the defensive right flank for Poland in Germany. Good pace for a defender, tenacious and rugged, a “fighter”. Can score when in an offensive setup. Often ventures upfield, but distribution skills may be his biggest problem, and so can uneven performances: he can be great, or very mediocre, but to his credit he is not prone to many glaring mistakes. Chance of starting: 95% Chance of being called up for the WC: 100% TOMASZ KLOS (1973, Wisla Krakow) A solid, very physical central defender who is not immune to making that one mistake per game that leads to a goal for the opposition. Can be very deadly on headers from free kicks or corners, since he makes a very good target man in these kinds of situations. Chance of starting: 75% Chance of being called up for the WC: 100% MARIUSZ JOP (1978, FC Moscow) Somewhat a new face in the Polish defense, but with excellent physical play in the last few appearances for the National Team was able to challenge either Klos or Bak for a spot in central defense. Tenacious, physical, fearless defender, and one able to score from a distance as well with a powerful right foot. Unlike our other central defenders, Jop is not prone to making silly mistakes or mental lapses. Chance of starting: 75% Chance of being called up for the WC: 100% JACEK BAK (1973, Al Rayyan) One of Poland’s top defenders for many years, his stature has diminished lately with him joining a club from Quatar after leaving Lens. Solid, but fairly static central defender, and he is starting to show his age. Chance of starting: 70% Chance of being called up for the WC: 90% MARIUSZ LEWANDOWSKI (1979, Shakhtar Donetsk) Can play both defensive mid or central defender, but lately showed class in the latter role (where he plays for Donetsk). Together with Jop they can both replace Bak and Klos in the central defensive positions. Chance of starting: 65% Chance of being called up for the WC: 70% TOMASZ RZASA (1973, ADO Den Haag) Another one of our elder statesmen, this left back has had a quite stellar career (UEFA Championship and Supercup with Feyenoord) that is now nearing its end. As time passes Rzasa is joining lesser clubs and his performance is becoming worse. Once a pacey, aggressive defender his is now a shadow of his former self, although does still show the occasional flash of brilliance, especially technique-wise. But highly prone to mistakes and lapses in concentration. Chance of starting: 40% Chance of being called up for the WC: 40% DARIUSZ DUDKA (1983, Wisla Krakow) Not long ago this left back was considered to be the future of Polish defensive lineup. However, a serious personal tragedy put his career on hold. Still, Dudka is a tenacious and technically sound defenseman, whose most serious weakness is his lack of stamina and the inability to distribute the ball well. Chance of starting: 25% Chance of being called up for the WC: 30% MIDFIELD Miroslaw Szymkowiak (1976, Trabzonspor)- The "brain" of the Polish team. Szymkowiak is known for being able pick out forwards with a perfect through ball. He is not the fastest player but very intelligent on the pitch and is one of the few players to come out of the Polish League that has the capability to control the pace of a game on the international level. A potential weakness may be his frequent arguments with refs that often result in yellow cards and being somewhat injuiry prone. Look for him to have great chemistry with Zurawski and Frankowski who he played with for many years at Wisla Krakow. Call up 100% Starting 100% (if fit) Jacek Krzynowek (1976, Bayern Leverkusen)- An explosive winger with plenty of Bundesliga experience Krzynowek is a fan favorite in Poland. He is a very good technician that can cross the ball well and has an atomic shot (as documented with the wonderful goal he scored against Real Madrid in last years CL). His form has not been great of late but expect him to show up in a big way in Germany. As a side note he was considered Poland's best player in Korea/Japan 2002. Call up 100% Starting 90% Kamil Kosowski (1977, Southampton)- Kosowski is an exciting player to watch. He is a great runner with the ball and is one of the fastest players on the Polish NT. He can be inconsistent and has had many ups and downs in his career; including and unsuccessful stint with Kaiserslauten. However, he seems to bring his best for the National Team and as a former Wisla Krakow has great chemistry with Szymkowiak, Frankowski, Zurawski etc. His defense leaves a lot to be desired. Call up 95% Starting 90% Radoslaw Sobolewski (1976, Wisla Krakow)- a relative new comer to the NT he has become Poland's go-to defensive midfielder. Sobolewski is a work-horse in the middle.He has great stamina and a rocket for a shot. He still plays in the Polish League which is somewhat of a weakness but he his one of the handful of players from that League that can bring his game to a high level. Jerzy Engel (the Polish NT head coach during the 02 WC) said that he is one of the best unknown players in Europe for his position. Call up 100% Starting 80% Sebastian Mila (1982, Austria Vienna)- Talented and young. Don't excpect him to start but if Szymkowiak goes down...who knows. When Max from the Fox Soccer Channel was doing commentary on a game he played in (UEFA Cup) he described him as a very young Nedved. Also a free kick specialist. Major weakness is his inexperience and the fact he is easily knocked off the ball. Call up 70% Starting 20% Ebi Smolarek (1981, Borussia Dortmund)- Second leading scorer in the Bundesliga.He can play either on the wing or as forward. Smolarek has a great sixth sense around the net and burned more than one Bundesliga defender one-on-one. Unlike many Polish players he learned to play soccer in Holland (at the Feyenoord youth academy) which makes him one of the better players on the NT especially as far as technical ability and tactics is concerned. As a side note he was disqualified for some time from soccer for testing positive for Marijuana when he played in Holland and in Germany he is known as the "Hasish Bomber" Call up 100% Starting 90% (if not midfield than forward) STRIKERS/FORWARDS Poland usually plays with 2 strikers up front. 1) Maciej Zurawski(1976, Celtic FC) – ESPN says that he is the player to watch on the polish side, and arguably, he probably is. He scored 7 goals in qualifying, which put him tied for 4th in Europe. A dangerous striker who leads the polish attack. He is very explosive and instinctive. A shoot-on-sight type of forward who packs a punch with both feet and is quick, strong and aggressive. If he plays well in the World Cup, chances are so will the rest of the team. Chances of making the squad – 100% Chances of playing – 100% 2) Tomasz Frankowski(1974, Elche CF) – “Franek” to his polish fans. He’s been playing alongside Zurawski for most of the last 5 years, in club and country. He is very good at taking advantage of the chances that are given to him. He also scored 7 goals in qualifying, including a beauty against England in the last game. He has played very well since his transfer to Spanish Segunda side Elche, scoring 7 goals in as many games. He will be fighting for the second striker position. Chances of making the squad – 100% Chances of playing – 70% 3) Grzegorz Rasiak(1979, Tottenham Hotspur FC) – Recently transferred from Derby County FC to Tottenham Hotspur, where he has started 2 games, and been subbed in once. Seems to me that he is very well liked by the Polish coach, Pawel Janas. However, truth be told, he has looked terrible in the last few games , and the polish fans are coming down hard on him. Rasiak is a tall target man, a hard working, honest player with a good goal scoring record. He is a powerful 6ft 3" frontman. Chances of making the squad – 100% Chances of playing – 40-50% 4) Andrzej Niedzielan(NEC Nijemegen) – 5) Emmanuel Olisadebe(Panathinaikos FC) – 6) Marek Saganowski(Vitoria Guimaraes) – 7) Grzegorz Piechna(Korona Kielce) -
In my opinion Przyrowski doesn't have chances to go to WC. Janas took him to Kiev this summer and made him play the last 10 minutes in second half of the game vs Serbia and Montenegro. He was awful. Maybe it was because it was his debut in NT, but he showed absolutely nothing, absolutely no reaction upon the ball hitting the post. He doesn't perform badly in Polish ligue, but in my opinion he does not perform good enough to go to Germany. 50% chances of getting squad are overrated in my opinion. Kowalewski is way better, he proved it in NT and Russian Premier League, where he is one of the best keepers. As for Kuszczak, he is selected in WBA's starting line-up regularly in recent weeks, and he is doing well, according to journalists. But despite of that he is just number 4 or 5 keeper in polish goal (IMO). Only 3 places for golkeepers are ready to take in polish NT to WC'06 and in my guess Boruc, Dudek and Kowalewski are going to take them. Although there are some voices in polish soccer environment that the 3rd goalie should be young and perspective keeper (like Lukasz Fabianski from Legia) who in the future could be the number one, i think the trio i mentioned, can be sure of getting ticket to Germany. I can't really imagine dropping Dudek because he is only second GK in Liverpool now, i can't also imagine leaving Kowalewski at home, since he plays well regularly for Spartak and is the man that Janas can count on. Boruc is an obvious choice, so no doubts about his position.
how come these chance percent dont sum up to 100%? as for dudek - dont be so sure about him going. i can well imagine the nt without him. the selection will be basen on current form not on past achevments
Cool! Thanks for the profile... I've always liked Krzynowek as a player. I'm looking forward to seeing Zurawski play as well.
Przyrowski (Gk) IMO is weak as hell. He played couple of good matches in groclin, but nowadays he conceeds goals like normal, usual GK from polish league. nothing special + he was so stressed when Janas gave him a chance to play in NT that i wish he stay in Grodzisk and watch WC with glass of bear inna hand
Well, that's what Janas says, that he won't select players because of their past achievements, but i wouldn't be so sure if that sentence is accurate when we talk about Dudek. I'm not saying that Dudek is indispensable for NT (especially when he doesn't play in LFC), but i am talking about something else. Remember Rasiak? He wasn't playing for any club for months, but Janas was calling him to NT. In my opinion Janas likes some players, and keeps calling them no matter if they play regularly or not for their clubs. And the sentence that he won't call anyone as a reward for past achievements is in my opinion just a motivation for players that have chances to be selected. But at the end he will select mostly "his" players. And Dudek will be there. Of course i may be wrong . Personally, i regard Boruc as the number one, so as long as he is fit, i really don't care much about who will be the GK on the bench.
of course every coach has his favourite players but i dont think dudek is one of them. remember that janas played in legia, coached legia and its no secret that he likes theese players. i hope fabianski goes to germany
Well, he was coaching Legia, but it was long time ago (a whole decade). He was also coaching Amica, but not many Amica players are in NT (other case is that there is no class player at the moment). Does he like Legia players more than Wisla players for example? Well, i doubt, just look how many players from Legia and Wisla, or how many former Legia and Wisla players he does call. Karwan, Wlodarczyk, are just episodic. Saganowski only plays against weaker opponents, or few minutes against stronger ones. Only Boruc, as a former Legia player is the first eleven player at the moment. As for Fabianski, if he goes to WC instead Dudek (well, maybe instead Kowalewski, which i wouldn't be glad of), it will be a big surprize to me. And oh yes, Kowalewski is also former Legia player
its obvious you live away from poland. he doesnt call many legia players beacause noone was really worth it. does he like wisla players? remeber how much time frankowski needed? if fabianski goes, dudek wont go. boruc and kowalewski are in too good form to be left out
Well, i live in Poland. What i meant is that i think Janas doesn't feel anything special to Legia players just because he played for and coached Legia. I also think he doesn't have any special sentiment to Wisla players, they were simply better than these from Legia, that's why they were called up, and i think we both agree to that. Of course there is always an exception like Frankowski, who was scoring goal after goal in Polish league and didn't get calling, but that's i think is a different case... And returning to the main point about Dudek ... Why Janas gave him a chance just after his contusion in the game vs Estonia a month ago? Why didn't he call Fabianski instead? Fabianski already was in high form. It was just a friendly, so it also was an excellent occasion to check the young GK. But he didn't, which in my opinion is a sign that Dudek won't be dropped easily. Of course i don't mind Fabianski going to WC, but as i said before, Dudek seems to be one of Janas' favourite players, especially after what he did in CL final against Milan. You can say that there is no corelation, but then i would again return to Rasiak+Niedzielan combination. Why Rasiak+Niedzielan? Maybe because Groclin performed well in UEFA Cup 03/04, and later when there was no Rasiak, nor Niedzielan in Groclin (and Rasiak was having hard times flirting with Siena and not playing fo few months for any club), he kept calling the sucking duo because he probably counted on their team-work that they showed while playing in Grodzisk Wlkp. So the overall conclusion is for me the same as it was before, Janas can say that he won't call anyone just for past achievements, but he finally will do some exceptions.
ok, i agree on the fact that they were just better. as for dudek i think he called him to check his form, beacause everyone knows that if dudek will play regularely somewhere he'll get the spot for sure. on the other hand if he doesnt he could be left behind and he wont be one of the exceptions. players that can pack their bags and wait for the plane to germany no matter what are zurawski, smolarek, krzynowek, szymkowiak, bak p.s. where you from?
But saying that the selection isn't over and then calling Dudek, Boruc and Kowalewski for matches against Ecuador and Estonia is kinda strange. Selection isn't over, but he doesn't call for friendly games a goalkeeper that distinguish himself with the form (Fabianski). When is he going to check Fabianski's abilities? Sending Fabianski with Poland B to the game against Scotland B isn't in my opinion the way that Janas checks serious candidates for A squad. Let's just wait and see some pre-WC friendlies in 2006. I wish Fabianski to get the ticket, but Janas' behaviour doesn't convince me that he is thinking seriously about Fabianski (and/or any other keeper that wasn't mentioned) as the third goalie in WC. As for karny's question: if both are healthy and in good form, i really don't care which one stays in our goal (it's the coach's dilemma). Both are great keepers. But sometimes it depends more on what kind of football the opponent plays, so it's not always good to pick Boruc, and not always good to pick Dudek. PS: warminsko-mazurskie. Small town near Elblag.
Yes, hello? Anyway thanks for the profile. I look forward to seeing Zurawski play, never seen him before. Sounds like an exciting player.
Very comprehensive profile. Dziekuje! I think Janas will go with this starting eleven: -------------------------Boruc--------------------------- Baszczynski--------Bak-----------Jop------------Zewlakow Kosowski-------Szymkowiak----Sobolewski-------Krzynowek -----------------Zurawski-----Frankowski----------------- Maybe Lewandowski instead of Bak. I still think Smolarek will be used mainly as a right midfielder and will battle it out with Kosowski for a starting spot. Dudek might be a chance to start depending on how he goes in Portugal this year.
i think that frankowski is better in role of joker who enters the pitch in 60th minute. in first XI should play magic with ebi
What is the deal with my man Grzegorz Piechna??? He was on a tear in the Polish league last year and appeared to be the hottest Polish striker. Now he is coming off the bench? WTF? Is he in the dog house or injured? Also respect to all Korona Kielce fans out there. You guys are the team of the future.
Piechna is simply out of form. He hasn't scored a goal in First Division after winter break yet. Whole Korona plays under expectations, they only get 2 points in 4 games after winter break (2 draws, 2 loses). I think that subject of Piechna going to World Cup is over now.