Barcelona Here We Come. Wisla Krakow-Beitar Jerusalem 5:0.

August 7th, 2008 | by: tomasz | Comments(3)

After completely destroying the Israeli champion Wisla Krakow won a right to compete against the mighty FC Barcelona in the last round of Champions League qualifiers. Wisla proved that a Polish team can play in a fast and organized way. Cheers to coach Maciej Skorza for building a team that we don’t have to be ashamed of in Europe.

Wisla Krakow-Beitar Jerusalem 5:0 (Cantoro 9′, Cleber 25′(pen), Pawel Brozek 36′, Junior Diaz 57′, Niedzielan 88′)
Wisla: Pawelek – Baszczynski, Cleber, Junior Diaz, Piotr Brozek – Lobodzinski (71′ Malecki), Cantoro, Sobolewski, Jirsak (67′ Niedzielan), Boguski (78′ Dawidowski) – Pawel Brozek

There was much at stake before the game after a disappointing loss in Jerusalem. Fortunately, Wisla proved mentally ready to compete on the European stage. They were a better team and, what’s most important, they were able to make the score reflect their superiority. No more wasted chances, no more ‘what if?’ questions, just a quality display from the first minute. Beitar didn’t know what struck them and waved the white flag after the second goal. A very mature performance from Wisla, they used pressing well and were able to keep possession throughout long periods of the game. Tactically, they were just well organised. In terms of skills of individual players, they are poorer than last season after the loss of Dudka and Kokoszka. That’s why it was so important for coach Skorza to make strategy and organization the team’s biggest strength. It all worked very well today. What we, as nt supporters, can learn about particular players from the game? Let’s have a look:

Mariusz Pawelek: a confident performance, but Beitar’s efforts didn’t require anything spectacular from him.
Piotr Brozek: the weakest link in Wisla’s defense in the first half. A very good second half, both offensively and defensively. Almost scored from a halfway line. I still can’t make up my mind whether he’s good enough for the nt.
Rafal Boguski: he’s getting closer and closer to the nt. A great performance, took part in almost every offensive play. Good technique, confident on the ball, dynamic, very useful in possession play. Time for a serious test in the nt.
Wojciech Lobodzinski: still not in shape after an injury, lacked sharpness on the ball. Marvelous overhead assist for Diaz’s goal.
Pawel Brozek: another great display. Showed good movement, speed and confidence. A constant threat to Beitar’s goal. Calmly took his chance to score for 3-0. Gives Leo no option but to give him one more chance.
Andrzej Niedzielan: great that the former Polish international scored after a very long injury. I hope this will be his season.

What’s next? An adventure of a lifetime against Barcelona. Does Wisla stand a chance? As much as Saudi Arabia of winning the World Cup. For me the best thing about those matches will be the publicity that Polish football will gain. I just hope that it’ll be positive publicity.

Here are the highlights: