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Brozek Doubtful For The Slovenia Game. Saganowski Called Up.

September 4th, 2008 | By: tomasz | 11 Comments »

It was supposed to be Pawel Brozek’s time. He’s developed and matured as a player and is now ready to lead the Polish attack in World Cup qualifiers. He’s in great form this season with 6 goals already (4 in the league and 2 in Europe) and good performances against FC Barcelona. His next victim was supposed to be Slovenia. Unfortunately, because of an injury he’s now doubtful for the game. Marek Saganowski was called up in case Brozek’s problems are really serious.

It was all going so well. Leo Beenhakker openly stated that he’s counting on Brozek in the upcoming games. The Wisla striker was receiving positive feedback from the press, fans and fellow players. He advanced from a backup player to a key player status, even without playing a game for the nt. All to make him mentally prepared for the challenge, all to give him support, all to show him that he may be our starting striker for the campaign. It was supposed to be the first serious national team test for Pawel Brozek, the first game where he has an important role to play. It was going to be the game where Brozek would prove that he’s on international level. Now it all remains in doubt. Brozek is still not 100% fit because of the injury he suffered at the weekend. At yesterday’s training, for the first time ever (at least in Poland), Leo had an individual training session with Brozek. Broziu was shooting in the empty net for half an hour with Leo passing him the ball. Unfortunately, he still ‘feels’ the strained muscles in his right leg. At the same time, the sole fact that Leo devoted half an hour to a single player only further proves how important Brozek is to the national team at the moment. We should learn if he’s fit enough in the upcoming days.

In case the injury is serious, who can step into Brozek’s shoes? Ebi Smolarek will probably start on the wing. Him playing the lone striker position proved disastrous for us in the Euros. Lukasz Piszczek plays on the right wing for Hertha. Moreover, he also played on the wing in his only Euro game against Germany. Does Leo even consider him a striker? The answer to our problems may be Robert Lewandowski. The 20 year old is taking the Polish league by storm. But is he really ready for an international challenge after playing only 8 official games for Lech Poznan? I think that Marek Saganowski was called up because of all those doubts. It’s a big surprise as he wasn’t even included in the backup list. Sagan is an experienced player who can come and play a decent game every day of the week. At the same time, he’s not a guy that we’ll win us any trophies or win a game all by himself. A difficult choice ahead of Leo. Personally, if Brozek proves unfit I’d go for Lewandowski. What’s your opinion?

Tags: Beenhakker, Brozek, Group A, Piszczek, Poland, Robert Lewandowski, Saganowski, Smolarek

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Comments

By M. Zurawski | September 4th, 2008 at 7:50 am

Lewandowski. If we’re gonna get bit in the ass, we might as well bloody some young talent along the way.

Posted from Canada

By Alek | September 4th, 2008 at 11:05 am

I’d pick Lewandowski, if he can deliver I’d just hope that the midfielders can do well attacking. Poland really needs someone like Steven Gerrard.

By zaraza | September 4th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

I have a feeling that Beenhakker will start Sagan if Brozek is not ready but I agree with you all that Lewandowski would be the better choice… I mean, when’s the last time Sagan scored, either for club or country? It would be crazy to expect him to recapture his goalscoring form right in time for this game.

About Piszczek, it’s true that he usually plays on the right but Hertha have made him play on the left wing a few times as well so he could be an option for us there if Krzynowek and Smolarek are out of form. Having said that, Piszczek is just coming back from injury and may not be in great form either…. He’s definitely not a striking option for us, I hear that Hertha have played him only once in that position and he wasn’t very good… However, Hertha fans say he can do a good job on either wing, when in form of course.

Posted from Canada

By Jadczak | September 4th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

Saganowski is so useless, hes old and he plays for a championship team. We should bring someone up whos much younger but maybe doesn’t get much club playing time aka David Janczyk. Plus it doesnt look like hes going to get much playing time either seeing as CSKA just bought a young Czech striker.

By tomasz | September 4th, 2008 at 4:24 pm

Saganowski has never scored for Leo’s team as far as I remember. If we are to play him we need a lot of support from the midfield. Sagan may be the safer choice, but we can win more if Leo chooses Lewandowski. But there is more risk involved at the same time. There is no new info on Brozek’s injury. Oh, and as for Piszczek I read that he’s a candidate for the left wing, at least in the long run.

Posted from Poland

By marcin | September 4th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

lewandowski over saganowski

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | September 4th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

Jadczak, the new Czech striker only means that Janczyk’s chances of getting a call-up are even closer to zero… Leo is not going to risk our qualifying campaign in order to give a boost to Janczyk’s career. Sagan is a better choice, he may be old and out of form but he cannot be as out of form as a guy who has not played in over a year.

Posted from Canada

By Witold | September 4th, 2008 at 7:06 pm

Smolarek is a very good midfielder, and we must play him like that, then he will score regularly as he did last campain. It is a shame that we gonna loosing a talent like Janczyk, he needs to find another team as soon as possible, we don’t need another Matusiak case… Definitively, I’ll prefer Wichniarek than Saganowski and definitively Lewandowski, a youngster, than Saganowski. We need to build for the futur…

Posted from Canada

By tomasz | September 5th, 2008 at 4:24 am

I think we can start building for the future once we have no chances of qualifying. But this is just the start of the campaign so we should put out the strongest possible squad, regardless if they are 35 or 18 year olds. If Leo was so confident of Lewandowski’s skills he wouldn’t have callep up Sagan. Zewlak said today in an interview for GW that Brozek should play, even though he’s in some pain. Janczyk is currently not an option, he can’t be a prospect at CSKA forever. He should move if he doesn’t want to be another wasted talent.

Posted from Poland

By nick | September 5th, 2008 at 8:05 am

Zuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurawski, but since he’s not there I’d would want Piszczek but as you said he’ll be considered a wing. I’d go with Lewandowski although i would be suprised if that happened

Posted from New Zealand

By wejher | September 6th, 2008 at 7:57 am

I’m sorry but Janczyk should alway be an option, Like i’ve already mentioned in a previous post Podolski was’nt a regular at Bayern last season but he was a starting player in the national, and look what he did. Backwards thinking National Team - thats our biggest problem. “yeah lets play someone with international experience who is shit rather than play someone with natural talent” I’m sorry but some of the club teams who jancyyk has played against are probabl better than some of the national teams we have in our qualifying group, so what has international experience have to do with anything? are the rules different? are the goal nets bigger? no, football is football, simple as. Which of our strikers in recent memory has been a better prospect and attracted more attention than Janczyk?

Posted from United Kingdom