Comments on: South Africa-Poland Preview. Friendly Intermission.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:35:27 +0000

A rough two years for a footballer is a life time.

Smolarek is top three, I think, among scorers in European qualification but that isnt saying much considering most of his goals came against San marino.

By: chester

chester — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:15:55 +0000

I agree with you wiltold. Smolarek is by far one of our best footballers. Just had a rough two years, but every player has some rough times. But he was our leading scorer in qualifiers for 2008. He is also the current leading scorer for 2010. Kid has talent infront of the goal and he can take out play weaker opponents with his technical skills which are 2nd to Kuba’s. Now with Orbaniak coming in idk where Smolarek will fit into the line up. Maybe as an 2nd striker/attacking midfielder or maybe Orbaniak can take over the attacking midfield position so Ebi can play on the wing. Because right now im not confident in Rogers ability from what i saw i was disgusted i think he might have had more inaccurate passes than accurate ones. Seemed like every time he had the ball he lost. So what he can make one or two good passes a game still isnt good enough for me. And today Tralka, Komorowski, and Wilk all proved that they arent good enough once and for all. At least Zaluska proved that he is a quality goal keeper and Rzezniciak proved that he has a future as our RB.

By: Nick

Nick — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:08:50 +0000

@zaraza – I think Tralka actually played some pretty reasonable football. He was good with his first touch, made fine, accurate passes, and other than one or two times he kept running around poking for opportunities.

That being said… maybe it’s time to stop starting Roger. I mean, is there a more two-faced player on the entire squad? You never know which Roger will show up: the creative Brazilian, or the lazy, lackluster player who hasn’t had a good season in Legia. If players don’t perform, maybe Leo should still keep calling them up, but instead give another guy the chance to start the game. And let’s wait before we hail Obraniak as our savior. He started the Ligue 1 season on fire, but cooled off in the second half.

By: Witold

Witold — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:58:17 +0000

@Zarasa … “Obraniak is far and away a better player than Krzynowek and Smolarek” … How could you compare Obraniak with Smolarek, did you see Obraniak playing? (I saw him in a couple matchs, and he is good but not dominant)Do you compare Spanish and English league with the French League? Do you know that actually Smolarek is among the top scorers in the Worldcup qualifications? I’m also very happy to have Obraniak in our team,but I don’t think that is actually as good as you think (or I don’t think that Smolarek is as bad as you think, don’t put him too much pressure.

By: adas

adas — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:48:16 +0000

Didn’t get to see the game. Sounds like a team was thrown together at the last second with all the regulars out. The focus should be on World Cup Qualifiers, as these matches are more about Confederation Cup warm ups for Iraq and South Africa. Slovakia now have a five point edge on Poland, and Northern Ireland are only three up with seven games played. Poland needs to build something in their next Qualifier to put the pressure on Northern Ireland. Slovakia may be out of reach, depending on what happens. Fortunately, Northern Ireland and Slovakia will play eachother before Poland has that important rematch with Slovakia. But if they continue to drop points, World Cup 2010 is going to be a somber one for me.

By: a

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:27:03 +0000

They can make all the excuses they want but I guess it all comes down to the carrot in the stick. I know it sounds a little crazy, you would think that a footballer would not have a problem with heart or desire to win when playing for their country. But its human nature to be motivated by money, it is that added incentive for them to work harder in practice or in games. Footballers talk about heart or pride only when they win. If any of the players that played against RoI or South Afrika said they had heart or the desire to win at all cost they would be blowing smoke up yer ass.

There is something seriously wrong behind the scenes with our team. I tried watching the game today and had enough like 20 minutes in. The lack of creativity, the lack of hustle to get back and defend, and safe passes to the closes teammate only shows that this team has no one to take charge and be a leader. Are they all expecting Roger to do everything? The world cup qualifiers have been very similar to the Euros. What is the problem? Stage fright? Lack of confidence? Or are they giving too much credit to the opposition. Maybe its that they are overlooking teams and face a harsh slap in the face once the game starts. Anyways, its is very hard to stay optimistic about this group of players.

By: zaraza

zaraza — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:59:12 +0000

Against Greece we’ll have Blaszczkowski, Jelen, Boruc, M.Lewandowski, Brozek, Boguski, and Gargula. If all goes well and he doesn’t change his mind, Obraniak will take over on the LW. Jodlowiec will probably be tested at CB and Piszczek should be tested at RB, he played the last 6 games for Hertha in that position and did a reasonable job.

Leo will probably also give a chance to Malecki, Grosicki and Glik. I doubt Leo will continue to call up Wilk, Tralka, Komorowski and Rzezniczak. We have better prospects.

So all in all, I think the comments on other places are overly dramatic. Our line-up against Greece will probably be very different than in South Africa.

By: robski

robski — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:27:08 +0000

and I forgot. This is also due to the fact that our league has been corrupt for so long that players dont actually even play anymore, they know what the score is supposed to be and just do what they are told to do. All PZPN’s fault.

By: robski

robski — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:25:05 +0000

I only watched the last 20 mins of the game and I was stunned, we were doing nothing. There are no excuses, it might have been our reserve squad and what not but a country of 40 mill should not have problems like these..
Its all about our Polish league, this is why our National team is not that good. The Polish league needs some time to get to a decent stage that could have players develope quickly and better. Thats all i can say.
Cant wait for Obraniak, I want to see what he can chip in for the team ;]

By: Alek

Alek — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:46:51 +0000

Actually Saganowski had an assist in Austria, and he had what was probably our best shot on goal against Germany. But ya, I agree he is almost totally useless.