Czech Republic-Poland 2:0. Another Game Another Loss.

October 12th, 2009 | by: tomasz |

There was no surprise because there couldn’t have been one. This is the level of the Polish national team currently and the sooner we realize that the less frustrated we’ll be. No miracle was on the cards as six of our starters were from the Ekstraklasa, a league that doesn’t even have its representative in the Euro Cup group round (Moldova has, Austria has four). Fortunately, the qualifiers end as early as on Wednesday and we won’t have to lose our nerves anymore.

Czech Republic-Poland 2:0 (Necid 51’, Plasil 72’)
Poland: Kowalewski- Gancarczyk, Polczak, Glowacki, Rzezniczak- Obraniak, Iwanski, M.Lewandowski, Blaszczykowski (Peszko 67’)- Jelen (R.Lewandowski 64’), Grosicki (81’ Janczyk)

This was a game of the two biggest losers of our qualifying group. It showed why exactly those two teams failed to qualify for the World Cup when their opponents included such powerhouses as Slovakia, Slovenia and Northern Ireland. This was the poorest Czech Republic I’ve ever seen, yet they managed to defeat us without breaking that much sweat. The reality is that we can’t even use the opponents’ weakness to our advantage. Our whole tactical plan, counter attack and long balls in direction of fast strikers, failed disastrously. Majewski didn’t foresee how the Czechs would be playing; they didn’t come out with high pressing, they didn’t attack with the whole team and they didn’t leave much space to our strikers. There were even moments in the game when they gave up the middle of the field without much fight. And that’s when our team had problems. We just weren’t ready for a situation where we would take the game from our opponents (or that they would give it to us), the tactical plan was to defend and come out with a counter from time to time. What to do when we can play possession football? The team had absolutely no idea. There was a moment in the game when we could have easily dominated the Czechs, but the players were so surprised by the opportunity that they couldn’t use it. Yes, we had good chances from Blasczykowski and Jelen, but there weren’t a result of some deeper organization of the team. It was because the Czechs were playing like an average Ekstraklasa side as well. Still, there wasn’t a single situation where Jelen or Grosicki were given a diagonal ball to run at. Another story is our defense, an original Ekstraklasa product. I know that we all like to bitch about Zewlakow or Dudka, but at least they know how to distribute the ball from the defense. All Polczak and Glowacki knew was how to kick the ball as far away as possible. Unfortunately, most of their “passes” landed at the opponents’ feet. Rzezniczak and Gancarczyk didn’t want to make their partners look bad and presented a very similar level of play. Mariusz Lewandowski was the only player that showed some skills and, well, wisdom in the middle. Maciej Iwanski repeated his recent Ekstraklasa performances, a lot of time on the ball and no opening passes for the strikers. Blaszczykowski and Obraniak didn’t help much on the wings. The former is a shadow of a player from a year ago, as for the latter I feel that he’d give us more if he played in the centre, in the Iwanski position. Still, it was after Ludo’s cross that we had our best chance in the first half. It’s a shame that he has to enter the national team in such difficult times, things will only get better for him. Together with losing the first goal we also lost any sort of concept on how to play. The changes brought by Majewski didn’t change the game, Wojciech Kowalewski spared us a humiliating defeat. Now we can be sure that the boycott of the Wednesday’s game will come into effect without any problems. The Stadion Slaski will be a sad place, but there’s nothing to cheer about in terms of Polish football. We’ve reached the breaking point.

Player notes (1-10):

Wojciech Kowalewski 5: can’t be blamed for the loss. A couple of good interventions and a couple of mistakes. Jerzy Dudek will play on Wednesday.
Seweryn Gancarczyk 3: isn’t using the chance he’s given very well. Often helpless when left one on one with an attacking player.
Arkadiusz Glowacki 3: can’t be treated as a savior of our defensive line. Played throughout his whole career in Poland and some habits just can’t be get rid of (kicking the ball away, brutal play, lack of speed).
Piotr Polczak 2: isn’t a player of international potential. Too slow, not agile enough, can’t distribute the ball, was involved in both Czech goals. Should have played his average football at Cracovia, thanks to Majewski he’s become a shooting target for the fans. Shouldn’t have been picked up in the first place.
Jakub Rzezniczak 3: there’s a difference between Czech Republic and Piast Gliwice. Not confident on the ball, no offensive runs.
Ludovic Obraniak 4: some good crosses, one of the best Polish players till we lost the goal. Disappeared completely afterwards.
Mariusz Lewandowski 5: the only Polish player that had a clue about what to do in the middle of the field. A very average game, but a professor like when compared to Iwanski.
Maciej Iwanski 3: too slow on the ball, took too much time to spot the partners. Should’ve taken more risk, get involved in dribblings, maybe shoot at the goal. Not a single opening pass.
Jakub Blaszczykowski 4: a good start when Jankulovski earned a yellow card for a foul on him. It didn’t last long as Kuba disappeared with every minute. Not in shape.
Ireneusz Jelen 4: couldn’t play his favourite counter attack football, didn’t get enough support from the midfield. Had a goal saved by Petr Cech after a good header.
Kamil Grosicki 4: has much more space in the Ekstraklasa. One good dribble and a good pass to Kuba, other than that a lot of ineffective running.
Robert Lewandowski 3: didn’t change the way we were playing. Had a chance to score, but he’s slowly forgetting how to convert them.
Slawomir Peszko 4: just as Blaszczykowski, without a spark.
Dawid Janczyk: didn’t play long enough, should’ve been introduced earlier.

Conclusions:

- the boycott is the only possible outcome. Though judging by the PZPN’s after game comments (Piechniczek “There was progress”) it’s hard to believe in its effectiveness.
- Stefan Majewski is not qualified to become a permanent coach of the Polish national team.
- didn’t know why Glowacki or Iwanski were omitted by Leo? Now you know.
- we can’t count on miracles. An average player of an average team from a poor league (Polczak) won’t suddenly play on an European level.
- Grosicki may as well play with U21 against Holland, it’s no use to keep him
- it’ll take a lot of time for Kuba Blaszczykowski to return to form. This part of the season is lost for him.
- Obraniak has to be incorporated better into the team. It seems like he’s trying not to stand out.
- playing well in the Ekstraklasa doesn’t mean you’ll play well in Europe. It’s just a different brand of football.

Going to watch the game against Slovakia? I’m going to watch it at home, it’ll be the first time since I can’t remember when that I don’t go to the pub to watch Poland play. That’s my personal form of protest (yes, I know Lato doesn’t give a shit where I watch the game). Extremely sad times.

Goals from the game

Extended highlights here.

Tags: Blaszczykowski, Czech Republic, Gancarczyk, Glowacki, Grosicki, Group A, Iwanski, Janczyk, Jelen, Kowalewski, Lewandowski, Obraniak, Peszko, Poland, Polczak, Robert Lewandowski, Rzezniczak, Stefan Majewski

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 31 comments.

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By Radek | October 13th, 2009 at 8:41 am

Guys, the U-21 game is available online today at ATDHE.NET.

Here is the direct link:

http://www.atdhe.net/9823/watch-poland-u21-vs-netherlands-u21

Starts at 11:45 EDT (NYC, Toronto, Montreal time)

Posted from Canada

By Hieronim | October 13th, 2009 at 11:04 am

poland just got a penalty v holland

Posted from United States

By Hieronim | October 13th, 2009 at 11:06 am

and he missed i think i jinxed it hahaha im done

Posted from United States

By chester | October 13th, 2009 at 11:09 am

I cant believe Malecki missed the penalty.

By Focus | October 13th, 2009 at 11:57 am

U21 team is getting pounded, losing 3-0

Posted from Canada

By Tomek | October 13th, 2009 at 12:39 pm

Ended 4-0 to the oranges, we got a red card as well, GOOO POLSKA THE BEST TEAM IN DA WORLD >_<

Posted from Netherlands

By Focus | October 13th, 2009 at 12:43 pm

I’m in class and was only following it on uefa.com. Were there any good chances from us? Any standout players?

Posted from Canada

By Boniek | October 13th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

The U21 team looked terrible. They played with no confidence at all. They look like they got infected with what the senior side has. There is not a lot to get excited about for the future. That is just sad. Call me a pessimist, I don’t care. To go through what we have been through the last few years, more specifically the last 12 months, you can’t but feel hopeless. Watching the game today just confirmed that. No wonder these guys never reach their potential, that’s because the media and fans build them up to be superstars. Look at the current team, Krychowiak, Janczyk, Szczęsny, and Janota are the only ones playing outside of Poland. They don’t even play regularly for their clubs. Most of the other guys are not even regulars for the Ekstraklsa teams or play a level below. Now that should open anyone’s eyes who gets a little too optimistic.

Its sad that the greatest name in Polish football is also the most despised.

By Boniek | October 13th, 2009 at 12:50 pm

You’ve got problems when a dude named Ricky van Wolfswinkel scores a hat-trick. LoL. He does look like he is going to be one of the great ones.

By Tomek | October 13th, 2009 at 1:24 pm

Janota does play and score regularly for his club. Dunno ’bout the others though.

Posted from Netherlands

By Hieronim | October 13th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

@ Boniek

Did you really watch the game? We were dominant up to the point where Malecki missed his penalty, and Holland scored on the first chance they got. We looked pretty damn good at times. Until the half Poland was still playing decent football. I missed the second half but once the score starts getting lopsided I guess the team is going to start to look bad. I thought Rybus performed well, as well as Grosicki, Glik, Malecki, and Krychowiak, even though I don’t like the idea of Krychowiak playing central defence. What we need in the senior NT besides basically a full new back line are central midfielders that can play two ways and boss a game.
@ Tomasz, M. Lewandowski was horrendous in the last qualifier v the Czechs, maybe he looked good in comparison to Iwanski. He is too slow, and although he plays tough and hard, it seems like he is always taking knocks that affect his play during the game, and the accuracy is his ball distribution just isn’t there anymore. In the Euro, he was hitting beautiful 30-50meter balls across the field right to a player’s foot or chest. Now he seems off his game. We need central middies now!! Shift Obraniak over, bring Rybus to the senior national team or shift Peszko over so he can cut in, and we can have a much more fluent, quick, and dangerous attack with better passing.

Posted from United States

By Tomek | October 13th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

Tomasz what I don’t understand is our boy young Lewy: You say he forgot to score for Poland but in the ekstraklasa, even with a crap Lech Poznan he still scored 5 goals in 8 matches. Maybe he’ll only perform for money? I dear hope not, he seemed like a nice guy.

Posted from Netherlands

By Tomek | October 13th, 2009 at 1:42 pm

He also scored 3 goals in 6 cup games, also impressive. I don’t it’s his talent, maybe his motivation when playing for Poland?

Posted from Netherlands

By adas | October 13th, 2009 at 2:10 pm

Tomek, I think its just the mood around the national team. You can try to play your best, but when the team is mentally out of it, your physical abilities don’t count for much. I think the worst thing for Poland might be autmotatic qualification to the Euro. If we could start qualifying from scratch, the team might feel there’s something to play for. As it is, the team was on a down swing. Coupled with the fact that winning in Prague and against Slovakia would still require outer circumstances not in their control to happen there must have been nothing left in them, not even hope. Poland in terms of football is a wagon with a broken wheel. We’ll be lucky if it doesn’t flip over and kill everyone.

By Boniek | October 13th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

@ Hieronim

I was (un)fortunate to watch the game until I could not take it any more around the 81st minute. Yeah, they look decent up until Malecki missed that penalty. That seemed to deflate the squad. Malecki himself was no where to be seen after that. The only player that I liked was Grosicki. The rest you could replace them and you wouldn’t notice the difference. I’m tired of being frustrated. If you think they dominated up until that missed penalty then you’re fooling yourself. If they think they played well that would explain the “its not that bad” or “it could have been worse” attitude in Polish football.

Jaroslaw Bieniuk? is this some kind of sick joke? This confirms that they must be retarded. If Majewski is gonna call up friends and family maybe I will have a chance (5th or 6th cousin, I think). If the I Liga is so hot for talent maybe Majewski can strike gold ten more times and find a decent squad.

By zaraza | October 13th, 2009 at 2:21 pm

He should be very motivated playing for Poland, it may be his only opportunity to impress foreign scouts. An article a while back mentioned that Majewski’s move to England was based on his performances for the Polish youth teams. Not many foreign scouts still watch the Polish league, they think the level is too low to really make a valid opinion on a player’s abilities. Most prefer to base their opinions on international performances. So if he’s not motivated to play for us, he’s just damaging his own hopes of a transfer abroad.

The PZPN has succeeded in destroying Polish football as well as any hope for the future. But hey, at least we can still beat towns masquerading as countries. They deserve some bonuses for that great achievement!

Fans should continue to boycott as long as necessary. The PZPN won’t be able to survive when revenues from ticket sales, sponsorships and TV broadcast rights all begin to dry up. It’s clear they’re worried, otherwise they wouldn’t need to resort to the “hooligan” rhetoric.
An article today also mentioned that the PZPN’s getting pressure from Eksktraklasa officials who are worried that the protest might widen into a boycott not only of the NT but also league matches.
The protesters are doing a great job of causing panic within the Polish football establishment!

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | October 13th, 2009 at 2:57 pm

Following the U-21 loss to Holland, Zamilski admitted the Dutch youth were much better trained/skilled, he said it was plain for all to see. He was only disappointed by the margin of our defeat and the wasted penalty.
What exactly is the purpose of the PZPN’s Wydzial Szkolenia anyway? Our youth are now worse than Azerbaijan (1-2 loss by our U-19s a few days ago)!! If you thought our 4th place finish behind Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechs, and N.Ireland was bad enough, just wait until they retire and these “talents” move up to the senior ranks. Will we even be able to defeat San Marino?

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | October 13th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

*5th* place finish, 4th only if a miracle happens…

Posted from Canada

By Tomek | October 13th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

Yeah very few tickets are sold for tommorow, very good. I think we should call up Janota, he’s a beast in the 2nd Dutch league (which I think is better than the Polish one, since players like Honda developed there, who’s worth 10 million now). Also Radek Majewski deserves a call up, he has been class for the Forest so far.

It’s depressing to see that our youth team sucks so hard.

Posted from Netherlands

By Tomek | October 13th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

Also does anyone know if Sebastian Boenisz wants to play for Poland? Stefman Majewski wanted to convince him, but I don’t know how that happened. Yeah Boenisz is a cunt but I’m convinced he’s miles better than any Polish defender.

Posted from Netherlands

By zaraza | October 13th, 2009 at 3:25 pm

Janota had a great start for Excelsior, four goals in the first five games, but he appears to have faded. 0 goals in the last five games. In the last two games, he wasn’t even in the starting lineup:
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/spieler/45564/michal-janota/default/leistungsdaten.html
And he only played 20 minutes against Holland.. So I don’t know if he’s ready for the senior NT.

We need to completely revamp our youth program. We can’t expect our senior NT to ever improve if we’re not producing at the youth level.

Posted from Canada

By Radek | October 13th, 2009 at 3:46 pm

Wow, Euro2012 is not looking good at the moment amidst all this negativity surrounding everything that has to do with Polish football. Miracles do happen though… I really REALLY hope that the pusty stadion protests in Poland will be the starting point of a sort of Polish football revolution. I don’t think it EURO2012 is in danger, as I think its too late for UEFA to take away the EURO from us because of a complete overhaul of the PZPN. What do you guys think about M. Lewandowski’s comment after the Czech game? I loved it, and I enjoyed Lato’s reaction even more. hahaha

Posted from Canada

By Hieronim | October 13th, 2009 at 4:11 pm

@ Radek

I missed Lewandowski’s comment is there a link to it that you can provide or can you summarize what he said? This is the first time I’ve seen/heard mention of it…

Posted from United States

By tomasz | October 14th, 2009 at 4:57 am

@Tomek
Lewandowski’s goalscoring record in the Ekstraklasa is quite good this season, but Lech fans aren’t satisfied nevertheless. It’s because he wastes many opportunities, often the most important ones (vs. Club Brugge or vs. Legia). In a NT game he won’t have five chances to score as in the league, he’ll often have one and he must convert it. Yes he scored 5 goals in the league already, but he should’ve scored at least 8.

By Radek | October 14th, 2009 at 11:58 am

@ Hieronim

M. Lewandowski joked after the loss to the Czechs that Slovenia should call pzpn with an offer which could motivate Poland to play better and win against Slovakia.

Posted from Canada

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