Michał Żewłakow In History Books. USA-Poland Preview.

October 8th, 2010 | by: tomasz | Comments(18)

Grzegorz Lato is the sole leader in terms of number of caps for the national team…but not for long. Michał Żewłakow will play his 100th game for Poland against the USA in Chicago. The veteran of three successful qualifying campaigns and three disappointing tournaments has a chance to overtake Lato if he plays in the next game against Ecuador. This is history in front of our eyes.

I think Żewłak describes his career in the national team best: When I compare my achievements with players like Grzegorz Lato, Zbigniew Boniek, Kazimierz Deyna or Antoni Szymanowski, of course I see a big difference. Those players were really successful in the national team. They wrote the history of football in which I only managed to fit into. I didn’t achieve anything great in the national team. I’ve just played for it…I know my place in line and the hierarchy among the most successful players.
As always, you won’t hear any boasting about from Żewłakow. Just a modest and balanced opinion. Alright, enough of history, let’s return to football. This is how our squad looks like before the game against the Americans:

Goalkeepers: Smuda is prepared to pick his strongest squad against the USA and give some playing time to the backup players against Ecuador. Boruc is currently higher than Tytoń in Franz’s hierarchy and he’ll wear the nr1 blouse against the Americans. Expect 90 minutes from Artie and the Roda keeper between the posts against Ecuador.

Defenders: Our most raided formation at the moment. Sebastian Boenisch and Grzegorz Wojtkowiak are injured, Maciej Sadlok is scared of flying and Dariusz Dudka wasn’t allowed to join the team by his manager at Auxerre. This created a lifetime opportunity for two Ekstraklasa players: Łukasz Mierzejewski and Dariusz Pietrasiak. Even though Ł.Mierzejewski plays a right back at Cracovia, Smuda is prepared to use him on the other side of the field in Chicago. He knows the player from his times as a coach of Zagłębie and really believes in his abilities. He’s alone in that, as fans only see an average Ekstraklasa full back in the Cracovia defender. In other words, don’t expect wonders from Ł.Mierzejewski. Dariusz Pietrasiak was one of the worse players on the field against Australia, but he played out of position then. This time he’ll partner Żewłakow in the middle of the defense. Pietrasiak is a fine Ekstraklasa defender, but I wouldn’t rate him even to be as good as Arkadiusz Głowacki, who didn’t exactly shine bright on the international level. Surprisingly, Pietrasiak is currently higher in Smuda’s book than Kamil Glik, who experiences hard time at Palermo. Łukasz Piszczek, playing better than most expected at Dortmund, will complete our defense on the right side.

Midfielders: Tomasz Bandrowski played the defensive midfielder against Ukraine and Pietrasiak occupied this position against Australia. This time, both are unavailable to play in midfield. As it’s rather too early for Bartosz Salamon, it seems that Adam Matuszczyk will try to be this utility player we need in the middle of the field. It’s high time Matuszczyk steps up to the challenge as his previous game for the Biało Czerwoni were highly bland and unimpressive. The goal in his last Bundesliga match should improve his confidence. The biggest rivalry for the place in the starting lineup is on the playmaker position. Smuda has got Ludovic Obraniak, Adrian Mierzejewski and Radosław Majewski to choose from; the former two are closest to starting the game. A.Mierzejewski played in the stronger lineup during this week’s training sessions, but you have to remember that Obraniak arrived in Poland straight after suffering from indigestion. Ludo will have to work hard to regain his place in the first eleven. As Smuda is a big fan of his, I think it’s only a matter of time. On contrary, Rafał Murawski doesn’t have to be worried about his place in the squad an he’ll start against the USA.

Attackers: Kuba Błaszczykowski will only play in one of the North American tournee games, that is the encounter in Chicago. He’ll surely give his best, but this time I’d also like to see him playing more effective. Dribbles and runs are great to watch, but they account for nothing if they’re not finalised with an accurate cross or shot. Robert Lewandowski arrived in Poland a bit frustrated with his limited playing time in Germany and will finally have a chance to play from the first whistle. With no Ireneusz Jeleń, Lewy should be our target man in the upcoming friendlies and have enough chance to score at least once. Finally, Andrzej Niedzielan returns to the national team after 4,5 years and will try to imitate Jeleń in our tactical plan. Niedzielan says he doesn’t have Euro 2012 in perspective as he only thinks about the next two or three months. He wants to make the best of what he’s given at the moment. In his case, I think that’s a very good approach. He has to impress if he doesn’t want Smuda to forget about him when next call ups are handed in. I also hope to see Kamil Grosicki for more than 15 minutes after the break.

It will be interesting to see how some players handle the national team. I’ll watch Matuszczyk, Obraniak, A.Mierzejewski and Niedzielan closely as I think those are the players that may possibly improve our game when compared to the last friendlies. It would also be interesting to finally see Salamon live. It’s hard to expect anything specific in terms of results, I just don’t want to see the Cameroon story repeated.

USA-Poland, Chicago, 7 p.m. local time, 2 a.m. in Poland
Poland: Boruc – Ł.Mierzejewski, Pietrasiak, Żewłakow, Piszczek – Matuszczyk, A.Mierzejewski (Obraniak), Murawski – Błaszczykowski, Lewandowski, Niedzielan