Poland-Canada 1:0. Maciej Rybus Makes A Name For Himself.

November 19th, 2009 | by: tomasz | Comments(14)

So, that’s what a victory tastes like. After five games without a win and four without a goal the Bialo Czerwoni finally managed to defeat their opponents, though we had to wait for a game against the mighty Canada for them to do that. Mind you, what I find more important is that two 20 year olds, Maciej Rybus and Maciej Sadlok, showed some national team promise.

Poland-Canada 1:0 (Rybus 18′)
Poland:Kuszczak (46′ Szczesny) – Rzezniczak (65′ Kowalczyk), Zewlakow, Sadlok, S.Gancarczyk – Peszko, Dudka, Obraniak (88′ Malecki), Kosowski (69′ J.Gancarczyk) – Rybus (77′ Majewski) – Lewandowski

Franz Smuda’s first win as the national team coach was watched by almost 10 000 people, half of the capacity of the stadium. It shows that the fans’ boycott of the Bialo Czerwoni stopped, but still the team has to perform better in order to attract larger crowds. And Smuda’s players really tried hard to win the fans back, though not always to good effect. We started with what I would call a 4-1-4-1 formation. Contrary to my yesterday’s predictions, we had a typical defensive midfielder on the field (Dariusz Dudka). He was the one who was supposed cover for the offensive minded players and did a much better job than on Saturday against Romania. Two other central midfielders, Obraniak and Rybus, didn’t stick to one particular area on the field. We could see Ludo both taking the ball directly from our defenders and near the Canadian penalty area looking for that decisive pass. Rybus played a little more offensively, but also dropped back quite often and made himself available for passes in the centre. It’s a shame that our wings weren’t impressive enough this time around. Both Kosowski and Peszko had only an average game, the former reminding the fans about some of the drawbacks of his style of play (mainly messy crosses). The Lech player tried hard to score from distance, but as a winger he should go past the defenders more often. There also wasn’t much aid from the full backs; when Kuba Rzezniczak ran forward he didn’t know exactly what to after receiving the ball. Seweryn Gancarczyk was nowhere to be seen on the opponents half in the first 45 minutes. He was a bit better in the second half, but, to be honest, he failed to impress in all the four national team games he played in the second part of the year. The match against Canada was an another scoreless performance from Robert Lewandowski. This time the young Lewy really should have put the ball in the net, he failed to convert two great opportunities (once he opted for diving in the box rather than shooting). Lewandowski fought really hard on the whole pitch and one can’t deny his teamwork ethics, but his goal drought in the national team (among with other strikers like Jelen or Brozek) really starts to be problematic. Finally, some words have to be devoted to our central defenders. It’s now clear for me that Michal Zewlakow will become the player with the highest number of caps to his name in the history of Polish football. Even if he’s not to play in Euro 2012 he’ll surely take part at least in the 2010 friendlies as Smuda wants to use his experience to build the defensive line of his team. Maciej Sadlok may turn out to be a player who’ll become a solid part of our backline. I was really pleasantly surprised by his performance, especially the distribution of the ball and decision making. Smuda will surely keep an eye on him.

All in all, we controlled the game throughout at least 60 minutes. Canadians also had their chances, but they weren’t clear ones so Kuszczak and Szczesny didn’t sweat much. There were moments of a really high pressing when 4-5 players took part in winning back the ball. There were also moments when the space between the defensive and offensive lines was too large. I feel that we’d be severely punished for it if we played against a quality opponent. Come the end of 2009 Franz Smuda is going to finish his work at Zaglebie Lubin and concentrate solely on the national team. He’s got enough material for analysis to keep him awake during the winter. Next in national team’s plans is the King’s Cup in Thailand where we’ll play against the hosts, North Korea and Denmark. As it’s not an official international date only Poland based players will take part in the escapade. We’ll have to wait a bit longer for another serious match.

Player notes (0-10):

Tomasz Kuszczak 5: didn’t make any major errors, but had problems with kicking the ball upfield and stuck to the goalline too much on a couple of occasions.
Jakub Rzezniczak 4: not much tested in defense, ran forward a lot in the first half, but didn’t really have an idea about what to do with the ball. His single shot crossed the sideline.
Michal Zewlakow 6: another solid performance. Zewlak is slowly making himself a crucial player of the new team.
Maciej Sadlok 6: good anticipation and distribution of the ball. Not scared to run forward with the ball when the Canadians left too much space. A material to work on.
Seweryn Gancarczyk 4: scared to leave our half in the first 45 minutes, did it to little effect after the break. He’s got the ability to cross the ball well, but sometimes doesn’t know how to make himself available for the ball in attacking position.
Slawomir Peszko 5: there is still something missing in Peszko’s game as far as the national team is concerned. Maybe he’s just too chaotic for this level. Would’ve received a lower note if it wasn’t for one great shot and an opening pass for Lewy.
Dariusz Dudka 5: much better than against Romania, took part in pressing and distributed the ball wisely. Had four good shots on goal, more than I’ve seen him perform in all his previous national team games.
Ludovic Obraniak 6: Smuda may have just found Ludo’s place on the pitch. He feels very well in the middle in the free role than our coach prescribes him. Best set pieces in the team.
Kamil Kosowski 5: quite active, but not accurate enough to pose much threat. He had an assist though.
Maciej Rybus 6: a great situational shot for the goal. He’s one of the most skillful youngsters in Polish football, confident of his skills on the ball. Tried to always be near the play and available for passes. Has both the ability to run at defenders and keep possession under pressure. Will get his chances in the future.
Robert Lewandowski 5: the closer the end of the game the more desperate he was for the goal. Worked hard for the team, but must start scoring if he wants to keep his place in the starting lineup.
Wojciech Szczesny 5: an extremely confident performance for a 19 year old youngster. Made his father Maciej smile.
Marcin Kowalczyk 5: he’s a stronger and more confident player than Rzezniczak.
Janusz Gancarczyk: failed to show anything worth remembering. Had a couple of opportunities to use his speed, but went for safer options. His presence in the team is still a big question mark for me.
Radoslaw Majewski: started quite nervously, but ended the game with an opening pass for Patryk Malecki. A useful player as he can always surprise the opponents.
Patryk Malecki: had a great one on one opportunity, did everything well, but hit the post. Unlucky.

Conclusions:

- it seems that players are slowly understanding Smuda’s philosophy, at least parts of it. Franz established a good connection with the players.
- Ludovic Obraniak is becoming the leader of the team, at least on the pitch (can’t imagine him motivating the teammates in the dressing room).
- Maciej Rybus and Maciej Sadlok seem to be the most talented youngsters of the bunch recently tested.
- Dariusz Dudka had an ok game, but I’m still waiting to see how Smuda will utilize Rafal Murawski in the team.
- Roger Guerreiro is really low in Smuda’s ranking, he spent the whole of yesterday’s game on the bench.
- it looks as if Smuda wants to make mentors for other players out of Michal Zewlakow and Kamil Kosowski. He’s quiet about Mariusz Lewandowski’s return though.
- the inclusion of Sebastian Boenisch seems like a better idea with each passing game. I don’t want to write off Piotr Brozek or Seweryn Gancarczyk, but I’d rather see them as backup options.
- we need strikers who score goals. Looking at our main trio stats in the national team (Jelen 24/4, Brozek 20/3, R.Lewandowski 16/3) it’s hard to remain optimistic. We need someone of Frankowski or Smolarek regularity in the team. By the way, has anyone seen Ebi?

Highlights: Maciej Rybus’ goal

1 from parampampam on Vimeo.

Full highlights here.