Another eve of another friendly

On the eve of the Lithuania-Poland friendly…Team Poland, like the other thirty-one would-be Cup hoisters, is facing the roster submission deadline less than two weeks away

Okay, let’s face it, aside from a couple of newbies and the continuation of what might be called a “goalkeeper controversy,” there’s little to hype up about tonight’s match against Lithuania (FIFA-ranked a neat #99 between Iceland and Cyprus).

The Poland squad is bogged down with second stringers, mostly due to private clubs’ unwillingness to part with key players. (We can only hope that more on-loaners will be on the pitch for Polska when the Faroe Islands guys come to Wronki on the 14th.)

As for the debut players, defender Seweryn Gancarczyk (Metalist Kharkiv) and midfielder Grzegorz Bronowicki (Legia Warsaw) have been named to the squad.

A closer look will most likely be given to the King of Cyprus Lukasz Sosin (Apollon Limassol FC) and Marcin Kus (Queens Park Rangers), both of whom have been impressive in league and national play; Sosin in fact was a human highlight reel in the friendly against Saudi Arabia on 29 March, forcing Coach Janas to sit up and take notice while the striker found the back of the net twice in the 2-1 victory.

The newest chapter in the continuing saga of Poland’s five goalkeepers (not including Zbigniew Malkowski of Hibs, who has been given no chance to be named to the squad) will at least be scribbled in tonight. Jerzy Dudek (Liverpool) and 21-year-old Lukasz Fabianski (Legia Warsaw) will most likely both see playing time tonight, as Janas hopes to whittle down his options.

Also competing for three spots on the World Cup roster are Artur Boruc (Celtic), who seems a lock to be named starter; Tomasz Kuszczak (West Bromwich Albion), a 24-year-old rising steadily in the ranks; and Wojciech Kowalewski (Spartak Moscow), who seems to be an early choice of Team Polska goalkeeper trainer Jacek Kazimierski. Kazimierski promises to visit Moscow to give Kowalewski a good long look-see.

A brief look at the goalkeeper situation with lots of quotes by Kazimierski is available at todayonline.com. Did i say brief? It’s really brief, which makes this serious dis from the immortal Jan Tomaszewski all the more breathtaking:

“Jerzy Dudek should act like a man and give up all thought of being on the national squad.”

Whoa.

(If you check out the link on his name, though, you’ll see that PlanetWorldCup.com slaps Tomaszewski a little instant karma with that lovely shot of him digging at one nostril, probably a non-too-easy chore with the gloves on.)

Having watched Dudek in goal for the last Cup, i might be inclined to agree…if i want flashbacks, i’ll drop more LSD.

The Team Poland squad tonight will consist of:

Goalkeepers: Jerzy Dudek (Liverpool), Lukasz Fabianski (Legia Warsaw).

Defenders: Marcin Kus (Queens Park Rangers), Mariusz Jop (FK Moskwa), Mariusz Lewandowski (Shachtar Donietsk), Seweryn Gancarczyk (Metallist Charkow), Marcin Baszczynski (Wisla Krakow), Bartosz Bosacki (Lech Poznan).

Midfielders: Miroslaw Szymkowiak (Trabzonspor), Sebastian Mila (Austria Wieden), Kamil Kosowski (Southampton), Radoslaw Sobolewski (Wisla Krakow), Grzegorz Bronowicki (Legia Warsaw).

Forwards: Tomasz Frankowski (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Lukasz Sosin (Apollon Limassol), Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton).