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Polish Initial Squad For Euro 2008: The Analysis And Lotto Results.

April 16th, 2008 | By: tomasz | 19 Comments »

The anticipation and speculation is over…..or is it? Leo Beenhakker announced today a thirty-one men strong squad for the Euro 2008. When asked about the players’ chances of making it into the final twenty three he just advised to “speculate about particular positions and have fun”. That’s what I’m going to have, for sure.

I’ve already given my first thoughts on the list, now I want to present a more detailed analysis. Leo said today that’s he’s going to bring three goalies, seven defenders, four defensive midfielders, six attacking midfielders and three strikers with him to Austria. That makes the whole analysis a bit easier.

Let’s start with the goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United), Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London), Wojciech Kowalewski (Kolporter Korona Kielce)
Boruc is our first choice, no doubt about that. I also think that Fabianski will be in the final squad, if only to gain the experience for the future. Rivalry: Kuszczak vs. Kowalewski. Kuszczak doesn’t play regularly as he is a backup for van der Sar in ManUtd. Kowalewski plays week in week out but fails to impress at Korona. My bet: Kuszczak as he seldom disappoints when given a chance in Manchester and has an experience as a backup for the nr one keeper.

Defenders: Jacek Bak, Arkadiusz Radomski (both Austria Vienna), Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht Brussels), Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest), Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow), Adam Kokoszka (Wisla Cracow), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw), Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus), Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade).
Leo claims that he’ll take seven defenders, however if we consider Radomski a defensive midfielder then eight of those players will go to Austria. Rivalry: Wawrzyniak vs. Kokoszka. Wawrzyniak’s main advantage is his versatility; he can cover every spot in the defense and play as a DMC as well. Kokoszka is regarded as the biggest talent among Polish defenders. My bet: Kokoszka, as we already have a versatile player in Zewlakow.

Midfielders: Dariusz Dudka, Wojciech Lobodzinski (both Wisla Cracow), Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund), Mariusz Lewandowski (Shachtar Donieck), Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan), Lukasz Gargula (PGE GKS Belchatow), Jacek Krzynowek (VfL Wolfsburg), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Racing Santander), Radoslaw Majewski (Groclin Grodzisk Wlkp.), Michal Golinski (Zaglebie Lubin), Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze).
In my opinion, Lewandowski, Dudka and Murawski can be certain of their call ups as defensive midfielders. Once again, if we consider Radomski a midfielder then Pazdan is most likely to stay at home. Also, don’t forget that Roger is also in the run for the ‘offensive midfielder’ place. Rivalry: Majewski vs. Gargula vs. Golinski vs. Roger. Four central offensive midfielders, two of them will be included in the final twenty three as far as I’m concerned. For me, Golinski isn’t on the same level as the remaining three. Roger has the best skills and the biggest potential, therefore the biggest question mark is put next to the names of Majewski and Gargula. My bet: Very hard this one; Majewski as he’s in better form and he needs to gain experience to be our playmaker in the next qualifying campaign.

Attackers: Maciej Zurawski (AE Larissa), Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze), Radoslaw Matusiak (Wisla Cracow), Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin), Marek Saganowski (FC Southampton), Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld), Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow).
Three out of those players are to be taken. Magic is the team captain and Matusiak rarely disappoints in the national team. Rivalry: The five remaining players. Zahorski is in the best starting position. Janczyk is a mystery as he’s currently injured. Wichiarek has to start scoring goals again for Arminia. Piszczek didn’t manage to find the net for Hertha this season and failed to impress in the two games that he played for Leo this year. Saganowski can’t even get a game for Southampton, one of the worse teams in the Championship. My bet: Zahorski, for his height and the ability to play in the midfield. We also can’t rule out the possibility of Leo bringing along four strikers.

These are my bets; they’ll probably be worthless at the end of May as the situation and players’ form changes every week.

Lotto results: And now for the fun part. Some time ago I proposed to speculate about the call ups and gave my own version of how Leo’s initial squad will look like. Unfortunately, none of the readers was bold enough to compete with me. Luckily, Przeglad Sportowy, the biggest Polish sports newspaper, published their own predictions. It became a duel: a humble blogger-amateur against the professional journalists who spent years establishing reliable sources within the world of Polish football. The result? Amateur blogger: 28 strikes, Przeglad Sportowy: 25 strikes (26 if we take Roger into consideration). Oh, the demanding trade of football journalism defeated by an anonymous blogger. Listen carefully Przeglad Sportowy, I’m giving you the last chance to contact a real expert, my e-mail should be there somewhere.

Tags: Bak, Beenhakker, Blaszczykowski, boruc, Bronowicki, Dudka, Euro 2008 Squad, Fabianski, Gargula, Golanski, Golinski, Group A, Janczyk, Jop, Kokoszka, Kowalewski, Krzynowek, Kuszczak, Lewandowski, Lobodzinski, Lotto, Majewski, Matusiak, Murawski, Pazdan, Piszczek, Poland, Radomski, Roger, Saganowski, Smolarek, Wasilewski, Wawrzyniak, Wichniarek, Zahorski, Zewlakow, zurawski

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Comments

By No Dudek in Poland’s Provisional Euro 2008 Squad, But Still Room for Roger (When He Becomes Polish) - Euro 2008 | April 16th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

[...] to ““speculate about particular positions and have fun,” so Tomasz of Poland WCB fame has taken Leo up on the offer. Tags: Poland, Jerzy Dudek, Roger Guerreiro, Leo Beenhakker, Legia Warsaw, Real Madrid, [...]

Posted from United States

By deyna199 | April 16th, 2008 at 7:45 pm

there are going to be some tough decisions for beensy for sure. roger, majewski, and gargula in particular. majewski probably deserves to be there most with respect to form for the entire season. gargula has done well for the nt when he has been healthy and on form for his club. roger, has done well for legia at times but is not going to be our eduardo. consistency reflects skill in my mind… what i think roger has that Polish players dont is the ability to see the game from a different perspective. but I wouldnt be putting his actual skill into another bracket…..otherwise at his age he would be playing in a much better league.

By ildi08 | April 17th, 2008 at 5:33 am

Why is not Jelen even in the 31 players list ?

He is regularly good at Auxerre and imho was the best polish player at WC 2006.

Beenhakker would be very stupid not to select him.

Posted from France

By gregorio | April 17th, 2008 at 8:48 am

A few interesting questions arise, maybe except for the attack, where if nothing spectacular happens, Zahorski should join Żuraw and Radomatu.
If Radomski goes as a Dm, I believe Leo will want another central defender, so he would take Kokoszka. If not, Pazdan would be the alternative for Lewy, Dudka and Murawski, I’m not convinced about that. If Radomski goes as a defender, Wawrzyniak can be an option for the Dm (as well as Dc and Lb). But then again, Kokoszka is one of “Don Corleone’s” favourites… many “ifs” and “if-nots”, but I take Radomski in the midfield for the most likely version.
The most fascinaing run will be for Amc, supposing that Roger w i l l go. Majewski is a total rookie, but has made a huge proress lately and there can be pressure on Leo to include him in teh squad. Garguła on the other hand, seems to reach some consisteny, but is not as impressive as expected. They both should fight tooth and nails for EURO.

@ildi08
There was some controversy about not calling up Jelen some time ago, and Leo said he monitored Irek and the statistics were not too good. Inconvincing as it may sound, Beenhakker selecting the players cares most about whether the guy fits in his vision of the team or not. Jeleń is v.good individally but collective play seems his weaker side, and that may be the reason he’s not on the shortlist.
Anyways, I personally got to accept that he’s not in the nt, and I guess so did most people in Poland. After all, we have no choice but to trust Beenhakker.

ps. Tomek, congratulations on beating PS. Perhaps the recent change of the editor has corrupted the professionalism of the magazine;)

Posted from Poland

By M. Zurawski | April 17th, 2008 at 9:37 am

Well, here it is: The Newest Pole

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/17/sports/EU-SPT-SOC-Roger-Polish-Citizenship.php

By M. Zurawski | April 17th, 2008 at 9:38 am

And he already can say “thank you!” the progress is phenomenal

By tomasz | April 17th, 2008 at 10:17 am

@ildi08

Just like Gregorio said, Jelen hasn’t been considered a candidate for a long time now. Leo claims that he just doesn’t fit into his concept of the squad. It’s because Irek’s main strength, his speed, makes him an ideal player for counter attack. Only doesn’t want to play the counter, he wants us to play the posession football. That’s why he’s looking for the players that can keep the ball and he doesn’t consider Jelen a one. Oh, and don’t forget about his physical problems, he plays whole season with a serious backache.

@Gregorio

Radomski is one of the players hard to classify. Another is Zurawski, as he doesn’t really play as a striker in the nt (also dudka, wawrzyniak, smolarek, krzynowek). If we consider him a midfielder then there is place for wichniar or janczyk. As leo said, “have fun” with speculations and the press is already going crazy. I don’t rate PS high nowadays, I very much preferred when they were under Roman “Rokoko” Kolton.

Deyna199

In Poland Roger is a star, no doubt about that. We can’t really say how he’ll perform on the international scene, but I remember he didn’t manage to impress in games against Shachtar last year. As far as I remember, he was scouted and brought by Celta Vigo at a young age, so he had to be considered a player of primera division potential. His clubs in Brazil were also respected ones, unlike the previous clubs of most foreigners that come to Poland.

@M. Zurawski

Roger’s meeting with the president looked very funny. And he received our old jersey, with a hussar. Amateurs. I’ll try to write a note on it when I come back home later today.

Posted from Poland

By deyna199 | April 17th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

the truth is that we dont play possession football though. against portugal both times we had the ball 37% of the time. against the czechs we had it 47% of the time, but you cannot rely on a friendly. also, despite the quality of the czechs i dont consider them to be a really possession team either, they are like a hybrid.

anyways, it could be style….but apparently leo had a falling out with him as well. one time he claimed illness and didnt show up for an nt game but played for his club the next game after international break. he is also very injury prone, his back is acting up. I absolutely love Jelen and dont agree he doesnt fit with our concept. but i have come to accept that he will not come.

at the end of the day i will support the 11 out there, those are my boys

By tomasz | April 17th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

I agree, we don’t play possession football and we never had. It will be even harder during the tournament where we play stronger teams. However, that’s how Leo wants us to play and that’s his philosophy of football. I remember the situation you mentioned, the one where supposedly injured Jelen played for Auxerre. I didn’t like it to be honest, maybe Irek felt too confident after good performances at the World Cup. We’ve managed to play without him for more than a year now so I didn’t consider him a candidate for a call up. Hopefully he’ll recover next season and flourish in Auxerre.

Posted from Poland

By deyna199 | April 17th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

one thing i am not sure about though is how much pressure auxerre put on jelen to play injured. he complained about it as well before. with beenhakker not knowing how to speak Polish i really dont think he gets jelen. there is no real communication, and i think its unfortunate. because we obviously know a bit about him….he’s a nice humble player, and i dont think he was over confident with respect to his position on the nt because he was taken out almost immediately. even guys like boruc had to fight back for their place. but yah he did have a bad year this season. he needs to heal, that is most important.

i wanted to ask you one thing though, on onet.pl they are reporting that they still need FIFA to approve Roger for playing on the nt. is there anyway they can block him? i remember blatter stating he did not like brazilians being nationalized to play for other nts late last year. i am not sure about their ever changing rules, but whats the deal here? i mean what was the point of that ceremony if they arent 100% sure he can play for us, pretty embarrassing if he can’t.

By tomasz | April 17th, 2008 at 4:24 pm

The ceremony was to give him the Polish citizenship. It doesn’t necessarily mean that he is eligible to play for our nt(a lot of players have double citizenship). They must check if he’s never represented Brazil in any of the youth teams. As far as we know he hasn’t so there shouldn’t be any problem with it. It’s only paper work, Listkiewicz says that it’ll be done within a week.
As for Jelen, it’s hard to imagine him growing too confident, he just doesn’t have this Boruc or Wichniarek character. Still, he shouldn’t get manipulated by Auxerre, he knew the consequences and the comments he’ll receive in Poland. I think that Polish fans are quite sensitive about such cases, we want players who’ll move mountains to play for the team.

Posted from Poland

By The best blog about Steaua Bucharests » Blog Archive » ’steaua bucharest’ on the web | April 17th, 2008 at 4:33 pm

[...] http://poland.worldcupblog.org/1/polish-initial-squad-for-euro-2008-the-analysis-and-lotto-results.h…Defenders: Jacek Bak, Arkadiusz Radomski (both Austria Vienna), Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht Brussels), Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest), Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow), Adam Kokoszka (Wisla Cracow), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw), … [...]

Posted from United States

By deyna199 | April 17th, 2008 at 4:33 pm

the ceremony was to give him Polish citizenship, correct, but how many average joes get a Polish nt jersey from the president with Listek and co. in attendance?….in the article they said they have to ask fifa. all im saying is that after all that he better be able to play or else it will look embarrassing. i dont think anyone can argue that.

with respect to jelen, i bet if their was a Polish coach his nt situation would look a lot different despite his blunders both on and off the field at auxerre. but overall i dont think you can be dissatisfied with leo’s work. his selection of the team sometime reminds of the coach in the movie “Miracle”. Which is kind of what we need here

By tomasz | April 17th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

Well, you never know with Polish football officials but I can’t imagine him being illegible to play. It was just a big publicity stunt on Kaczynki’s behalf, to gey closer to the people.

Posted from Poland

By Rasiak Disappointed With Beenhakker. I’m Disappointed With Rasiak. - Poland | April 19th, 2008 at 9:17 am

[...] in Polish football. Rasinho expressed his disappointment about being left out of Leo’s initial squad for the Euros. His omission was hardly a surprise as he’s not having what can be considered a [...]

Posted from United States

By Squad Watch-Week 9. Wisla Crowned Polish Champions. - Poland | April 21st, 2008 at 3:17 pm

[...] things first, here is all the data concerning Polish players. I decided to follow more than the thirty one initially called up by Leo for the Euros (I just find it fascinating to check Kosowski’s [...]

Posted from United States

By Blackburn Offers 3M€ For Radoslaw Majewski. - Poland | April 24th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

[...] by Leo Beenhakker, who gave him a chance to play in the Polish senior team and included his name in the initial Euro squad. Basically, he’s one of the Polish league’s hottest [...]

Posted from United States

By Squad Watch-Week 10. Poles Already Score Against Germans. - Poland | April 28th, 2008 at 5:47 am

[...] this season. In my opinion, it’s this versatility that convinced Leo to include him in our initial Euro squad. On the other hand, he didn’t impress in the game against the USA; I’m not sure if [...]

Posted from United States

By Squad Watch-Week 11. Saganowski Saves The Saints, Fabianski Has To Prove His Worth. - Poland | May 5th, 2008 at 3:11 pm

[...] and the first one since 22nd of September 2007. Saganowski’s name was the biggest surprise on Poland’s initial Euro squad list. After imressing last year for the Saints (11 goals in 13 matches) this season was horrible for [...]

Posted from United States

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