San Marino-Poland Preview. Let’s Make It As Harmless As Possible.

I hate these kind of games because you can’t gain anything from them. First of all, this is a match that we really MUST win, San Marino is the weakest team in Europe. Secondly, in order not to be criticised we must win by a large margin. Thirdly, if we don’t score in the first half then we’re in for a lot of nerves as San Marino will play ten behind the ball. Generally, such a game can leave a fan satisfied only if we win at least 5-0.

We can learn from our history that this game is not as easy as it looks. Some of you may remember the encounter from 1993 which we won 1-0 only because Jan Furtok used his hand to score (I was watching as a young kid and couldn’t believe my eyes). Most of you should remember the game from 2002 when we won 2-0 away, but had to wait till 75th minute for the first goal. A win that wasn’t satisfying at all and a one that had us all prepared for what was to happen against Latvia. The best scenario is to score as early as possible and then add next goals without playing under too much pressure. Still, at this moment we can expect any kind of scenario from our national team. We may as well witness a thriller.

Team news: Pawel Brozek and Bartosz Bosacki are both injured and won’t take part in the game (so much for ‘it’s Brozek’s time’ claims). Mariusz Jop is the first to replace Bosy at central defence. We’re, however, in the dark about who’ll play as full backs. Marcin Kowalczyk had an uninspiring game against Slovenia; maybe it’s time Seweryn Gancarczyk gets some minutes. The Metalist player is more attack minded, which should be useful in a game where full backs are to act as wingers. There are also rumours that Grzegorz Wojtkowiak will earn his first cap on Wednesday. Apparently, Leo wasn’t very satisfied with Wasyl’s performance on Saturday (and who was?) and wants to give young Lech player a chance. I say let him have a go; surely Wojtkowiak won’t perform worse than Wasilewski.

Will we sacrifice one defensive midfielder to strengthen our attack? We certainly should as there won’t be much defending in this game. Moreover, I think we should give Rafal Murawski a break at the moment; especially after he was exhausted after only 45min against Slovenia. One additional striker should replace Muras. Today’s Przeglad Sportowy writes that it’s going to be Ebi Smolarek. A good ideas as Ebi can be a pefrect goal poacher for this kind of game. We’re still to learn whether he starts as a winger or striker. If former is the case, then Krzynowek lands on the bench and Saganowski plays from the first minute. If latter is the case, then Ebi starts upfront alongside Piszczek (or will it be Sagan?). Robert Lewandowski should also play some role in the second half (hopefully he won’t have to come on as a last resort).

Generally, this is a game that we should win confidently without breaking much sweat. I hope that I’ll be able to relax tomorrow with a pint of beer instead of biting off my nails in horror. Let’s make it as harmless experience as possible.