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Slovenia-Poland Preview. Fighting For Our Lives…Again.

September 9th, 2009 | By: tomasz | 125 Comments »

Remember the fake trailers from the movie Tropic Thunder? Scorcher I, II, III, IV etc. saves the world once again, again and again. This is the scenario for the Polish national team as well. The first part against San Marino was a piece of cake, but we stumbled as early as in the sequel against Northern Ireland. Now we need a happy ending in a game against Slovenia to be able to see the following parts of the series.

There will be changes. We need to revive the formula a bit if we are to be successful in the outing against Slovenia. Journalists currently accompanying our team in Maribor report that even the 4-4-2 formation was being practiced during the training sessions. In this case we would play as in the last 30 minutes against Northern Ireland with Brozek and R.Lewandowski upfront. Is it really possible? I seriously doubt it. I can’t remember a single game where Leo used this tactics from the beginning, even against San Marino we started with a usual 4-5-1 formation. I think that 4-4-2 is a possibility in case the game doesn’t develop according to our plans, just as on Saturday (so it’s quite possible after all). Leo is not the most tactically flexible of coaches and I can’t see him taking the risk in such a serious game. However, other changes may be in place for the today’s encounter. First of them is out of necessity rather than the will to strengthen the team. Pawel Golanski has suffered a minor injury and playing against Slovenia would be dangerous for him as well as for the team. I’m confident that Jakub Rzezniczak didn’t even dream about playing in the starting eleven two weeks ago, but injuries from our two top right backs made the space available for him. Another option is playing Bartosz Bosacki there, he used to be a full back in the opening stages of his career. Either way, I wouldn’t expect much aid for Kuba Blaszczykowski on the right wing (prove me wrong guys). The final alternation to our Saturday’s lineup is the most interesting. Leo is considering picking Ludo Obraniak together with Ebi Smolarek. It would give the Lille midfielder an opportunity to play in the middle, rather than on the left wing. In this case Rafal Murawski would have to be benched to make space for the newest Pole in the centre. I think it’s an interesting option which would give our team a more offensive approach. Both Obraniak and Roger are our most creative players and they can easily exchange positions in the middle, one minute playing alongside M.Lewandowski, the other linking up with Brozek upfront. Playing in the middle would also enable Obraniak to use his most deadly weapon, that is powerful shots from outside of the penalty box. As far as I’m concerned, this is the most offensive option that Leo is prepared to come up with today. In this case Robert Lewandowski would be our only real threat from the bench, unless Marek Saganowski makes the cut this time. There is also no sign of leaving Jacek Krzynowek on the bench; apparently Leo is so unconvinced by Seweryn Gancarczyk that he’ll make Krzyniu and us suffer watching the 96 times capped player on the left back position.

Probable lineup: Boruc- Rzezniczak, Dudka, Zewlakow, Krzynowek- M.Lewandowski, Roger- Blaszczykowski, Obraniak, Smolarek- Brozek

Any result is possible today. Slovenia are no pushovers, not for us at least. They’ve got players from FC Koeln (striker Novakovic), Bochum (striker Delic), Auxerre (midfielder Birsa) or West Bromwich (playmaker Koren). Wisla Krakow’s Andraz Kirm is one of the best left wingers of the Polish Ekstraklasa. Slovenia lost to England 1-2 at the weekend, but received good press for the performance. They’ll certainly be approaching the today’s game in better moods. We can’t allow for any serious mistakes, it’s best we play one of those “I didn’t know they’re capable of it” games. Don’t let the qualifiers end today.

PS: I just read on Gazeta that Robert Lewandowski won a place in the starting lineup after a performance in the last training session. They also don’t mention Golanski’s fitness problems.

Tags: Beenhakker, Blaszczykowski, Brozek, Dudka, Golanski, Group A, Krzynowek, Lewandowski, Murawski, Obraniak, Poland, Robert Lewandowski, Roger, Rzezniczak, Slovenia, Smolarek, Zewlakow

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 125 comments.

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By zaraza | September 9th, 2009 at 5:37 pm

dmac, I agree with most of what you said, except one thing: calling up Roger is not something Leo deserves praise for. Roger may be a good player/nice guy/whatever but he’s not a Pole and he doesn’t have a single Polish ancestor. IMO neither he nor Olisadebe should ever have been called up. Look at England, they don’t want Almunia even though he’s eligible for English citizenship. A national team is supposed to be a national team, not a club of random foreign mercenaries with no roots in the country they represent.

Posted from United States

By SD | September 9th, 2009 at 5:40 pm

In all honesty I’d like to give Avram Grant a chance and he actually said in an interview a couple months back that he is intrested in coaching Poland. Smuda already signed with a new club so I doubt he’d be juggling two jobs although maybe he could kick R Lewy in the ass and get him back in form. Skorza already proved ealrier this season he can lose to minnows just as bad as Leo. Plus I’m not a Wisla fan so screw him.

By zaraza | September 9th, 2009 at 5:49 pm

SD, you’re right, Koscielny will probably stick with France which is a shame as he’s said to be very good. Bonish is no loss though. He can laugh, we’ll be laughing right back at him. German fans I’ve talked to say he’s not that good, at most he can hope for one or two caps.

Posted from United States

By zaraza | September 9th, 2009 at 5:51 pm

Avram Grant doesn’t speak Polish so he’s out of the running.

Posted from United States

By marco | September 9th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

@zaraza please don’t get me wrong as i enjoy your comments very much but please never give credit to England for not picking foreign players for there teams. I know you are talking about the football team but in every other sports they play (and they all are equal in importance to most of the english population) eg rugby, cricket and rugby league, they have been the worst in the world for taking overseas players and calling them English. They will never stop patching up the many holes in their under performing sides with overseas players. No country is innocent of this. Hell in the past they even tried to take Harry Kewell when he was a star at Leeds but he told them no thanks and stayed with Australia, just to name one. I understand how you feel about Rodger even if I think different. To me it is all about loving Poland and wanting to put your body on the line for the country that counts. My grandfather was Danish born and bread but I could not give a sh”t about Denmark or its football team.

By zaraza | September 9th, 2009 at 6:39 pm

I don’t really know anything about England. So, these players England tried to nationlize, like Harry Kewell, they had no English ancestry? If so, I wonder why many acted so outraged about Almunia then..
Well, in any case, regardless of what other countries do, Poland should not be nationalizing foreign mercenaries. I’m not a psychic but I find it hard to believe that Roger really cares much about Poland, he may like the country but I doubt he feels any strong ties.

Posted from United States

By JZ | September 9th, 2009 at 6:57 pm

Hey guys 105 comments and counting love the passion – keep it up.
Tomasz keep up the great work. I check in daily to for new topics and new comments.
I believe what started this train wreck was the away game in Slovakia.
We were kicking there ass with 5 or 10 minutes left and then 2 brain farts by Boruc, I think after that game things just were not the same.
Majewski for NT team coach is a nightmare I hope does not come true.

Posted from United States

By Casimir | September 9th, 2009 at 7:10 pm

About taking foreign players, remember there was a time when Poland was a multi-ethnic nation, and now that we are getting a small immigration movement, and even those of us whose families emigrated from Poland because of past struggles or the wars (there’s actually large Polish populations in Argentina and Brazil supposedly, and definitely here in the US) I don’t think its such a bad thing to have people who grew up in foreign nations become part of the national team. Personally, I’m a mutt myself (Polish-Italian-American) and even though our family is very Americanized, but that’s bound to happen over a few generations especially when my family came here, but my grandfather who was the first one to be born here in America was a WWII vet and even though we were very Americanized and had Italian influence due to my grandmother, he definitely instilled Polish pride, and starting a month ago in my spare time I’m trying to learn the language, and I know most recently emigrated Poles here in America don’t necessarily consider me Polish but its hard to escape it having the same surname as Baldy, and if there was a Polish national team in my sport hell yeah would I represent them and I hope footballers who grew up in similar situations, not necessarily speaking the language but still growing up with at least its holiday customs, would too and that people would be accepting of them if they were sincere about it.

By adas | September 9th, 2009 at 7:48 pm

Screw the mercenaries thing. These guys don’t get paid to help Poland then look for the next team. Oli proved he wasn’t worth the call up and was left off the roster in due time. The same will happen with Roger and Obraniak if they aren’t worth it. Fact is that until we start using the players we have at our disposal, even if they only play for Ekstraklasa teams and that regularly, then we’ll never amount to anything. We need players who’ll be proud to play for Poland. I feel bad for Boruc because that guy is clearly dedicated to the team. He had his problems but our defense doesn’t help him. And here’s another thing that has to do with sports. You find heroes sometimes out of nowhere. We see so many players that dazzle at the league level for just a little bit and then disappear at the international leve. On the flip-side there are some players who are only so-so or just barely at the top level for their club side yet become very good international players. We don’t need superstars, we need a team that plays together. We need to use the best left back we have whether or not he’s a great player. He’ll feel more comfortable at his position and may even perform better than anyone else who just gets stuck there. We need unity. Even the addition of Obraniak and Roger seems to have flustered the team. No one knows how to play with Roger and his flare. No one knows how to play with Obraniak, especially when he gets thrown on the wings like against Northern Ireland. And it doesn’t matter who coaches Poland next if they don’t have confidence. I still remember the look on Pawel Janas’ face when they took on Germany at WC2006. He looked worried the whole time. The best we could have hoped for was a draw, and even that was robbed from us. We can’t be scared like that, and I really hoped Leo would give the team confidence. I really don’t know where we go from here.

By drewsky | September 9th, 2009 at 7:56 pm

Thanks for all of your awesome efforts for our blog Tomasz.Tomasz rocks.

Dont ya all think your being to hard on Leo?
Lets not forget the accomplishments of topping a group consisting of Portugal,Serbia,Finland in a 2yr Euro qualifying competition.As far as some of the outrageous comments against Leo ,has anyone ever looked at his portfolio? You cant coach on a higher club level than winning 3 straight at Real Madrid.He has forgotten more than anyone who speaks lowly of him will ever know.For God’s sakes he brought T&T to their 1st World Cup,Poland to their 1st Euro,this guy coaches positive reinforcement,belief.He was good.Im sorry if I offended anyone but maybe it’s time to realize our talentpool is maybe bankrupt of talent.Now that Leo is yesterday’s news the future has to be Smuda.I like his passion and open style.

Thank you Leo
We were lucky to have you for so long
That awesome Euro 08 qualifying run will never ever be forgotten

Posted from United States

By adas | September 9th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

I’m not knocking Leo, it just seems he stayed on too long. And unfortunately people remember the last thing you did for longer than they should. He’s a bit suspect only because of his Rotterdam position. Clearly Poland’s national team is a full time job. And when his tactics didn’t work, he stayed with them. So something was wrong. Either his tactics or the teams ability to incorporate them. I’m sad to see him go as I’m not confident that Stefan Majewski (if Wikipedia is to be believed) or any other Polish coach can do much better. I can’t wait for the games in October because I really want to see what direction the team takes. Let’s face, it has to get blown up and rebuilt. We were lucky to have Leo, but our luck ran out. And the PZPN was clearly having trouble dealing with the fact that Leo was the biggest thing in Polish football. Let’s see how they can fix things now. We gotta keep our chins up. What else can we do?

By SD | September 9th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

Few things on variious comments. I don’t get why everyone bitches about nationalizing players from other countries. I mean look at the Polish Basketball team. They have that black American Logan and he scored the most points against Bulgaria. I mean so many European basketball teams have naturalized Americans and so many football teams have players from other countries too. It all has to do with how bad do you want to win. Germany, France, and the Dutch(couple decades earlier) are all high on the rankings partly do to the foriegn players. Ya there are counties like Spain and Italy who are on top without the “mercenaries”(still don’t like the term) but they’re whole culture is soccer. Poland is good at other stuff (winter sports, kayaking, world strongman) but in those countires soccer is priority one. I think because Poland is not all focused on soccer thats why we are not as successful. But with this Euro coming up the attention is shifting so this is the best chance to make progress.

By SD | September 9th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

As for Leo, the man was stuborn and same old same old. Sure when he first came he shaked things up but after 3 years he didn’t change his tactics much. Clearly 4-5-1 DOES NOT WORK. everyone here was crying out for a 4-4-2 but Leo is stuborn. Everyone here asks why wasn’t Janczyk or Janota called up, because Leo is stuborn and has favorites. He wouldn’t let go of Jacek or Zewlakow when everyone here knew they were sucking up. At least Janas had the balls to cut Dudek and Frankowski. If Zurawski wasn’t injured in the Euro, Leo might have still kept him. Smuda i know has the balls to bench stars like R Lewy or cut them from the roster entirely. Leo was just a good freind to the team and thats why they wanted him to stay so much after that first N. Ireland disator. What happened to the team is they lost they’re best friend and maybe tnow they can get a hard ass coach who will put them in line and set the priorities straight. As for Leo I fear this will have been his last gig and he will now reitre. Not the best way to end you’re career at rock bottom but what can you do. He should have left after the Euro with something to atleast be proud of.

By witold | September 9th, 2009 at 9:15 pm

Our NT is not that bad as we saw these last days. What Leo did that the other coaches before didn’t ? Euro, ok but Janas and Engel did Worlcup and not him, so why we think that we can’t have a good coach in Poland? Wake up guys! The last time that we was ranking that bad is in 2002, 7 years ago, is it that what Leo do for us? Goodbye Leo! Take your money and no thank you!

Somebody could tell me more about Henryk Kasperczak? He seems to have much international experience

By witold | September 9th, 2009 at 9:18 pm

I totally agree with you SD about Leo

By adas | September 9th, 2009 at 9:38 pm

That’s true. We can honestly say that Poland isn’t this bad because they sure as hell haven’t shown up to a game in a long time. Even the San Marino game doesn’t mean much. They weren’t playing as a unit or showing what Poland can do. They just beat up on a team with less talent.

By Paradowski | September 9th, 2009 at 9:40 pm

It’s a bit ironic that three or all four (Ballack?, pk at 15′) of Germany’s goals today were scored by players of Polish ancestry (Klose 55′, 66′ and Podolski 71′). … and further tortured by the ESPN Gamecast at 90′: ” Piotr Trochowski hits a good left footed shot, but it is off target…”. Don’t get me wrong, it is those that are and have been part of the Bialo czerwoni that I care about; a sad day for the white and red. It might be funny in relation to tomasz’s post, but I guess we are not officially eliminated from the playoff/2nd position, or are we? I’ve been working all day and tried at times to look thru all the comments and only saw bits of the game (^thanks for stream link Casimir) Thank you all for sharing information and your opinions – it is very valuable to me and many I’m sure. I sure hope the conversations and postings continue. Cheers to you all.

By SD | September 9th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

Well you can say we are effectivley out but thats what they said about the US NT in the Confederations cup. After a poor showing against Brazil and Italy they had to beast it up against Egypt and beat them more than Italy. Then they went on and stunned the world by beating Spain when everyone else ruled them out. And they were leading Brazil 2-0 at HT. So maybe Poland still might have a chance but thats what I said to my freinds about Euro 2008 after the Austria game. Perhaps I’m just too hopeful and not realistic…
Perhaps this team doesn’t deserve fans like us. I mean if you look on the right side, Poland is the 5th most commented blog after France, Portugal, Netherlands, and Italy. We beat the Germans and English. We stand by the NT side and we believe they can progress through only to be dissapointed at every major tournement and this time we didnt even qualify. A sold out stadium against Ireland, dammit we deserve a better team. Not so much quality wise but some that actually put effort in. I mean our defenders just like jogged on the field. They don’t even run as fast as they can. If this was club level their asses would have been contract terminated. Maybe now that Leo’s gone the fun time is over. Time to put their asses thru military esque training and maybe then we can finally see some results.
Also I’d like to congradulate Tomasz for the 5th most popular blog. Hopefully it will still keep going strong.

By Peter | September 9th, 2009 at 10:55 pm

The sad thing is we still have a very real chance of qualifying (via 2nd place).

Slovenia is the only team we don’t control our own destiny (assuming that N. Ireland doesn’t beat out the Czechs by like ten goals) against.

Norway will probably be the lowest second place team. They have 10 points and all their games were already played. Right now we have 5 points after you subtract the San Marino games, so with 6 points we will have 11 and therefore enough to qualify to the playoff.

Slovenia right now has 14 points to our 11. They have a +9 goal differential, while we have a +8 goal differential. The remaining games for Slovenia are against Slovakia and San Marino. Good news is that Slovenia is playing Slovakia next when Slovakia does not yet have a berth locked up, so you can expect their A team.

This is what needs to happen. First and most importantly is we need to win our remaining matches. Slovakia then needs to beat Slovenia (totally feasible). Slovenia will then certainly beat San Marino, it will be just a question of how much.

If we could pull out our wins to the tune of 3 goals plus we would then have a +11 advantage. We then would need Slovenia to lose 2-0 to Slovakia and San Marino to hold Slovenia 3-0 at San Marino (which is possible as San Marino is yet to allow more than 3 goals at home (they even scored one)). If we somehow manage to win both our games 2-0 (against a weaker Slovakia team, mind you), San Marino would have a 3 to 4 goal cushion depending on the Slovenia-Slovakia game.

The most impossible link in this scenario is us actually winning two games, but with a new coach you never know, it may actually light a fire under someone’s ass.

By rydzynski | September 9th, 2009 at 11:05 pm

Great job on the blog Tomasz! I found it about a year ago and have been reading ever since. We appreciate the commitment it takes to watch, analyze and track the goings on with the squad, you do a wonderful job. Also for everyone else with their comments, it is very interesting to hear what you have to say and I always look forward to different perspectives.

Posted from United States

By Tomek | September 9th, 2009 at 11:27 pm

Ya Tomasz is awesome. Too bad he won’t have anything to write about now…
Still dziekuje bardzo Tomasz!

Posted from Netherlands

By Tomek | September 9th, 2009 at 11:40 pm

http://sport.onet.pl/0,1248770,2040369,wiadomosc.html

Fuck off Leo, you completely screwed us over, yet you still have the decency to whine. FUCK THE HELL OFF OLD IDIOT, go back to Rotterdam AND NEVER COME BACK.

Posted from Netherlands

By Tomek | September 10th, 2009 at 12:41 am

Also Grant supposedly can speak Polish since he’s from Polish descent. I read that somewhere, though I’m not 100% sure.

Posted from Netherlands

By marco | September 10th, 2009 at 7:01 am

I for one would like to post my support for all the players of Poland and not just the ones with so call polish blood or ones with polish grandparents. The fact is they all played very bad but I refuse to believe that you would put on a jersey and play with your mind and heart elsewhere. I have no polish blood in my veins, my only link is my lovely wife and a while ago I began to support the polish team above and beyond that of the country of my birth and upbringing and culture. I could not control which country I come from but I can direct my passion were ever I like. If polish people can create a beautiful intelligent and loving person like my wife then I love the country. Who knows what will happen to roger and obraniak in the future but he made it quite clear (in the case of obraniak ) how passionate he feels about Poland and what it means to his polish /french family for him to represent Poland. As for roger I would never run him down, as I have never walked a centimetre in his shoes not to mention a mile. Besides if being born in Poland and speaking polish and having polish culture from the day of your birth is what makes you polish then I guess klose and podolski are the true polish and people how love the country and were the white eagle on there chest are false poles. I know the ones I would like playing for my country and it would not be the ones who play for another country even if they do not celebrate goals scored against their homeland. But until anyone meets roger and has a long talk to him about playing for Poland, support the man. Even in a bad game he is doing a lot more for Poland then we are.

@ tomasz thank you very much for your great blog I hope you will continue it even if it’s just to let us know how the polish players are getting on at their clubs. Your big effort each week is well respected and enjoyed very much.
@ zaraza thanks to you again as I find you are the no 2 man of the blog where you find the time to get the latest info is amazing and please keep it up. Just getting back to your response about my last comment. I think the above speaks for my feeling about roger but as for the almunia thing as I live in England for now (but I am not English) I can tell you that at least half the football population of England liked the thought of him playing for them. Who wouldn’t when you have robinson and james in your goal. If it was not for foster’s rise at man u (which i do not rate at all) the Spaniard would have 3 lions on his chest now. Yes the manager said no but he did not speak for a lot of England fans. When you think that 3 players of their cricket team are South African it would be pot calling the kettle black to change option on the football team.

By zaraza | September 10th, 2009 at 11:15 am

SD, I bitch about it because it’s cheating, plain and simple. It doesn’t matter to me how succesful our basketball team is or how many other countries do it, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s dishonest.
But it’s true that every case is individual. Some people may not have been born in Poland, don’t speak Polish, their ancestral connection may be distant, or they may not even have any Polish blood (like marco), yet they still feel a real connection to Poland. To me they’re just as entitled to represent Poland as a Polish-born individual. The key thing is, they have to have a passion for Poland, I have never seen it from Roger, I think he was just trying to get a move to a better (foreign) club. That is not to say I don’t support Roger when he plays for us, I do. But I don’t want us to continue down this path of nationalizing people who don’t feel genuinely connected to Poland.

Posted from Canada