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Squad For The Ukraine Game. No Zurawski!

August 7th, 2008 | By: tomasz | 39 Comments »

New qualifiers and a new team? Not exactly, but there are some changes in Poland’s squad after Euro 2008. The most noticable is the absence of our captain Maciej Zurawski. Jacek Krzynowek, on the other hand, remains a member of the team.

Here’s Poland’s squad for the friendly against Ukraine:

Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow), Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal)

Defenders: Paweł Golanski (Steaue Bucharest), Adam Kokoszka (Empoli), Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus), Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade), Marcin Kowalczyk (Dinamo Moscow), Piotr Polczak (Cracovia Krakow)

Midfielders: Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk), Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre), Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan), Jacek Krzynowek (VFL Wolfsburg), Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund), Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin), Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw), Radoslaw Majewski (Polonia Warsaw), Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)

Attackers: Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Racing Santander)

Backups: Sebastian Przyrowski (Polonia Warsaw), Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan), Tomasz Jodlowiec (Polonia Warsaw), Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan), Slawomir Peszko (Lech Poznan), Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)

Biggest surprise? Lack of Magic Zurawski of course who was our captain and about whom Leo said that he’s still an important part of the team lately. Eight other players who were a part of our Euro squad also weren’t called up: Jacek Bak (retirement), Marcin Wasilewski (injury), Marek Saganowski, Mariusz Jop, Lukasz Gargula, Wojciech Kowalewski, Michal Pazdan and Jakub Wawrzyniak. No huge surprises there, the absence of Jop was especially expected. Tomasz Kuszczak also didn’t make the cut, as a result of his big mouth and being a prick generally. No Matusiak and Wichniarek, which shouldn’t surprise anyone watching our national team closely. There are no Wisla Krakow players, probably due to their encounter with Barcelona in the CL qualifiers. Only one player from Lech Poznan and Legia Warsaw each; Leo doesn’t want to mess with their European dreams. There are two players without a senior cap in the team: Marcin Kowalczyk and Piotr Polczak. The inclusion of the former is not a big surprise as he plays regularly in Russia to good effect this season. Kowalczyk can play on both flanks in the defence. Polczak is one of the players that will want to fill Jacek Bak’s shoes. Ireneusz Jelen gets another shot at the nt after dealing with his injury problems. Apart from Zuraw, other leaders who failed at Euro (Krzynowek, Lewandowski, Smolarek) are given another chance. I think that’s a wise decision from Leo, we don’t exactly have enormous number of quality players to choose from. We just can’t afford a squad revolution. What do you think about the new squad?

I also owe you a review of Poland’s 5-0 win against Maccabi Haifa in an unofficial game. Sadly, the game wasn’t televised anywhere so I’m unable to give you any account of it. You may presume which players did well by looking at recent call ups for the Ukraine game. It’s quite a surprise that a hattrick hero, Tomasz Zahorski, is only a backup for the next game. Generally, the more such training camps the better. Let’s have a look at our squad and highlights from the game (look out for the spectacular overhead kick by Zahorski).

Poland: Przyrowski (46′ Stachowiak) - Rzezniczak (46′ Pawelec), Jodlowiec (46′ Pazdan), Polczak, Wysocki (46′ Krol) - Rybus (46′ Pawlowski), Danch, Majewski (46′ Kuklis), Bandrowski (46′ Lisowski) - Peszko (46′ Dudzic), Zahorski

Tags: Beenhakker, Group A, Jop, Kowalczyk, Kuszczak, Poland, Polczak, Zahorski, zurawski

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 39 comments.

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By Cold | August 12th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

thanks Alek, you knows if is right foot?

By Alek | August 12th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Well he is a right footed player, and I’m not exactly a fan of his, he hasn’t really impressed me mainly because he plays for my clubs cross town rivals. Even without that I don’t really see him play well enough for any mentions in any of my media sources. He is still a young player and its only my opinion that I don’t like him, the last thing I have to say about him is that there are Polish defenders who are better (though they would be harder to sign), but there are defenders who are allot crappier, so wouldn’t be a bad signing, and once he leaves the Polish league (which was bound to happen to him) I always don’t care where they played in Poland, so ask me about him in like a year and I should be happier with him.

By M. Zurawski | August 13th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

Ouch. 4 nill for Barca. No one should be surprised, i suppose. Too bad Wisla didn’t play attack, i mean, i could have finished even worse but there would have been a chance of an away goal. Hopefully we can sneak a couple at home.

Posted from Canada

By Jadczak | August 13th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

Liverpool signed Błaszczykowski today for 12 million, I am absolutly loving this, not only does this help one of Poland best talent’s but signs for my favourite team.

By Witold | August 13th, 2008 at 6:43 pm

Jadczak, where you saw that news about Kuba in Liverpool?

By M. Zurawski | August 13th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

I’ve trawled the net and can’t find anything near definitive about an actual signing. It would be wonderful, and i hope i’m wrong, but i don’t think it’s happened yet.

By zaraza | August 13th, 2008 at 9:29 pm

On Google News (which links to news sources from all over the world) there are tons of articles mentioning that he’s being linked with Liverpool but no articles confirming it’s actually happened, not even from the British media.

I’m not sure it would be a good move anyway. He would probably end up on the bench, we just can’t afford that.

Posted from Canada

By Alek | August 14th, 2008 at 1:04 am

I don’t think any team would spent 12 million to not play someone. As long as Gerrard plays as a Center Mid then I think he will have a huge chance to play, because the midfield would go something like this:
Benayoun/Babel - Mascherano - Gerrard - Kuba
Other then Gerrard or Babel Liverpool don’t have any right wing players, and hell maybe he could even play as right back (I’m kidding it would be a waste)

By Jadczak | August 14th, 2008 at 10:27 am

LOL wow this is embarrasing, Im sorry guyz but I read this on an “unofficial” website and got too excited to even think that it could be just a rumour or untrue, once again my apologies. But hey I am still hoping.

By M. Zurawski | August 14th, 2008 at 10:49 am

Jadczak, lol.

Posted from Canada

By marcin | August 14th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

if tomasz quit that sucks. but it also means that we need a new writer….can anyone tell me how u sign up?

Posted from Canada

By Alek | August 14th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

It would have a post that he quit then they would give some email or something to apply to, but i doubt if he quit. If you want to see what that post looks like just go to Norway blog or some other tinny one and it should have it.

By M. Zurawski | August 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am

Good news for Jutkiewicz who made the subs bench in the Everton game. If he makes it regularly maybe we’ll have a Polish goal in the Premiership after all.

By M. Zurawski | August 16th, 2008 at 10:31 am

Wichniarek bagged two against Bremen, good for him.

By Alek | August 16th, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Blaszczykowski had an assist also

By marcin | August 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

if tomasz doesnt write in the next 4 days i will be taking over

Posted from Canada

By Witold | August 17th, 2008 at 5:53 pm

Any news about Smolarek? About Janczyk? If Jelen, Saganowski, Zurawski, and all of our ekstraklasa players who play in our NT, have their chances in our NT, Beenhaker has to give a chance to Wichniarek too, he plays very well in a serious league,

By zaraza | August 17th, 2008 at 6:46 pm

Piszczek got injured today, he’ll be out for three weeks.

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | August 17th, 2008 at 6:59 pm

According to a poster on the official Sion forum (I can read French almost fluently), Grosicki is no longer training with the first team, he’s been demoted to the U21s.

Sion fans think he has a lot of potential, however he needs to be less selfish and more of a team player. He also needs to learn some French. Apparently he still doesn’t understand even basic football terms.

Posted from Canada

By tomasz | August 18th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

Sorry guys for not posting anything, but I had some personal problems lately. Expect a new post tomorrow.

Posted from Poland

By M. Zurawski | August 18th, 2008 at 4:09 pm

Take your time Tomasz, good to hear you’re alive mate. Hope everything’s alright.

By Witold | August 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

Welcome back Tomasz!

By Nick | August 18th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

no worries Tomasz - hope all is good. Looking forward to more of your posts!

By Cold | August 19th, 2008 at 11:45 am

Somebody knows what’s happening between Polonia Warsow and Jodlowec? There chances that this player will not come to Napoli? We are waiting for him this week….thanks

By tomasz | August 19th, 2008 at 2:42 pm

Jodlowiec’s situation is unknown at the moment. He was to fly to Italy last weekend but changed his mind at the last moment. Polonia is claiming that there is no serious offer from Napoli, only an enquiry. The player himself is also not confident if he wants to play abroad at this stage of his career. Wisla Krakow is interested in the player as well.

Posted from Poland