Feyenoord Rotterdam-Lech Poznan 0:1. Lech Makes History.

It was a historic day for Polish football yesterday as Lech Poznan became our first team to advance from the Uefa Cup group stages. In a game that a lot of people was afraid of, Lech confidently defeated a surprisingly poor Feyenoord team. One of the most exciting Polish cup sagas of the century will continue after the winter break.

Feyenoord Rotterdam-Lech Poznan 0:1 (Djurdjevic 27′)
Lech: Ivan Turina – Grzegorz Wojtkowiak, Manuel Arboleda, Zlatko Tanevski, Ivan Djurdjevic – Slawomir Peszko, Rafal Murawski, Semir Stilic (70-Tomasz Bandrowski), Jakub Wilk – Robert Lewandowski (90+2-Piotr Reiss), Hernan Rengifo (90-Marcin Kikut).

To be honest, I didn’t really believe that Lech would win this game. I knew that they had the abilities to do that, but I was afraid of this Polish mentality of losing or drawing won matches. I was afraid that the must-win pressure would be too much for Lech players to handle. Moreover, I always considered Feyenoord a great club that prepare many players for successful careers in Europe’s top leagues. I knew about their recent injury and management problems, but nevertheless I was sure that there are no accidental players in Feyenoord’s squad. But guess what, there are players in the top Dutch club that would have problems with regular play for Lech Poznan. Kolejorz has finally gained experience to win a game in which they were a better and a more mature team. It wasn’t Lech’s most sensational performance in this year’s Uefa Cup campaign, but it was certainly the most effective. They controlled most parts of the game, scored when they had to score and defended when they had to defend. At almost no point in this game Feyenoord looked like scoring, at no point Lech looked like an unorganized group of scared players (as it often is with Polish teams playing away). There weren’t as many dynamic attacks as against Nancy or Deportivo; instead Lech turned to positional play and tried to keep possession as long as possible. Rafal Murawski proved crucial in this strategy, he “stole” numerous passes, didn’t lose possession and always tried to choose the best possible option for the team. Muras was the king of the middle of the park yesterday. This title usually belongs to Semir Stilic, but the Bosnian tried too hard to impress everybody with his skills; he dribbled when he should’ve passed the ball and played risky through balls when he should’ve kept possession. Nevertheless, it was Stilic’s corner that Ivan Djurdjevic turned into a goal. With Stilic, Lech are slowly becoming set pieces masters. Hernan Rengifo, Robert Lewandowski and Slawek Peszko each had their chances after that, but it wasn’t a game where attackers would shine. It was a game of hard working players like Murawski, Arboleda or Wojtkowiak, who didn’t resemble the irresponsible player he was at the beginning of the season. Even though it was the least interesting Lech Uefa Cup game, it was also the most successful. It was a sign that the most “watchable” Polish team can as well win matches thanks to maturity and confidence. The mix of fresh, adventurous approach at home with wise, positional play in away games can easily bring success next year. The Uefa Cup draw takes place on Friday.

Michal Janota took part in the game on Feyenoord’s side, but luckily he was unable to provide an extra spark for the Dutch. He was very dynamic and technically confident, but made wrong decisions and gave the ball away cheaply far too often.

Highlights

Other news: The transfer window starts in two weeks’ time so it isn’t surprising that there are more and more speculations concerning Polish players. Here’s a handful for you.

Lukas Zaluska is about to sign a contract with Celtic Glasgow and move to Celtic Park in July on a free transfer. Zaluska is regarded as one of the best goalies in Scotland; he made a huge progress last year so no wonder top Scottish clubs are interested in him. The Dundee goalie said that he chose Celtic’s offer in order to improve his family’s financial status. In my opinion, it’s a good move as long as Artur Boruc leaves the Bhoys in the summer.

Speaking of the devil, today’s Przeglad Sportowy is writing that Artur Boruc will move to Bayern Munchen in the summer. Negotiations are supposed to be under way with the Germans willing to pay 10M for the Holy Goalie. I’ll believe it when I see it, but it would be a dream move for Artur.

Borussia Dortmund are preparing an offer worth 3M for Wisla’s Pawel Brozek. The are supposedly impressed by the Polish league’s top scorer and want to buy him in this or next transfer window. I reckon it’s quite a good option for Broziu, Dortmund has served Ebi Smolarek and Kuba Blaszczykowski well. On the other hand, Brozek’s dream destinantion is Spain, so I’m not sure he’ll be very eager to move to Germany.

Przeglad Sportowy is once again selling Robert Lewandowski, this time to Napoli. The Polish starlet the main candidate to replace Marcelo Zalayeta, in case the latter leaves Naples. Personally, I’d see Lewandowski in a more attacking minded leagues, clubs like Ajax or FC Porto being the ideal choice.

Greek newspapers are claiming that Panathinaikos is interested in Roger Guerreiro. No offer, however, has been sent to Warsaw. I think it’s high time Roger leaves the Ekstraklasa, one could easily observe that he finds it harder and harder to motivate himself when playing for Legia. A club of a Panathinaikos level, or a middle of table club from Spain or France, would suit Roger best.

Widzew Lodz is one of the clubs listed as a possible place for Radoslaw Matusiak to once again ignite his career. A good option, since Radomatu needs a place where he’d play week in week out.

Arka Gdynia, Gornik Zabrze and Jagiellonia Bialystok are among clubs interested in loaning out Sebastian Tyrala. Maybe we’ll be given a possibility to judge first handedly if he’s a player of national team potential.