Squad Watch-Week 10. Poles Already Score Against Germans.

It was a Polish weekend in the Bundesliga. Both Kuba Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek have scored their first ever goals in Germany. Moreover, the Bielefeld legend, Artur Wichniarek, put the ball in the net for the ninth time this season to keep Arminia’s hopes of avoiding relegation alive. Apart from that, in Polish league classic Legia defeated Wisla Krakow 2-1.

Let’s have a look on how the Bialo Czerwoni performed this weekend:

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- 90 minutes against Rangers
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- plays today
Wojciech Kowalewski (Korona Kielce)- not in the squad against Gornik
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- on the bench against Chelsea
Sebastian Przyrowski (Groclin Grodzisk)- 90 minutes against Widzew, note 7

Defenders:

Jacek Bak (Austria Vienna)- not in the squad against Wacker Tirol
Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade)- not in the squad against Borac, recovering after surgery
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucarest)- 90 minutes and a red card against Universitatea Craiova
Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow)- 90 minutes against Spartak
Adam Kokoszka (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes against Legia, note 5
Marcin Kus (Korona Kielce)- not in the squad against Gornik, injury
Tomasz Lisowski (Widzew Lodz)- 73 minutes against Groclin, note 5
Arkadiusz Radomski (Austria Vienna)- 90 minutes against Wacker Tirol
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes against Sint Truidense VV
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes and an assist against Wisla, note 5
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- end of season

Midfielders:

Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 80 minutes and a goal against Eintracht
Dariusz Dudka (Wisla Krakow)- 42 minutes and a red card against Legia
Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow)- 90 minutes against LKS, note 6
Michal Golinski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 90 minutes against Zaglebie Sosnowiec, note 7
Kamil Grosicki (FC Sion)- on the bench against Young Boys
Przemysław Kazmierczak (FC Porto)- 45 minutes against Vitoria Guimaraes
Kamil Kosowski (Cadiz)- 90 minutes against Storting Gijon
Jacek Krzynowek (VFL Wolfsburg)- 12 minutes against Leverkusen
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shachtar Donieck)- 16 minutes against Karpaty Lviv
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)- 45 minutes against Legia, note 5
Radoslaw Majewski (Groclin Grodzisk)- 70 minutes and a goal against Widzew, note 6
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Cracovia, note 6
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Korona, note 5
Roger (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Wisla, note 6
Marek Zienczuk (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes against Legia, note 5

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow)- 45 minutes, a goal and a missed penalty against Legia, note 6
Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow)- on the bench against Luch Energiya
Radosław Matusiak (Wisla Krakow)- not in the squad against Legia, injury
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- 90 minutes and a goal against Hannover 96
Grzegorz Rasiak (Bolton)- 45 minutes against Tottenham
Marek Saganowski (Southampton)-
Ebi Smolarek (Racing Santander)- 90 minutes against Mallorca
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- 90 minutes and a goal against Nurnberg
Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Korona, note 5
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- end of season

Summary: It was a great weekend for Poles in the Bundesliga. It’s especially important that Kuba Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek scored their debut goals in Germany. It was already Kuba’s fourth game after the injury. After being red carded a week ago in the German Cup final this time he was one of Dortmund’s heroes. I must say that I find it surprising that Kuba managed to win his place in the team so easily after a long pause. The question is if he has strength to maintain a good run of form in the next weeks; you’re never 100% fit after returning from an injury. The Bundesliga season ends on 17th of May, just two days before our Euro preparation camp. Hopefully, our staff will know how to vary the training and adjust it to individual players’ needs. As far as I’m concerned, the debut goal was even more important for Piszczek. He started to play regularly for Hertha and all he needed was to find the net. I regard Piszczek as a player of big potential, he’s fast, well built and can play on various positions. He has already played as a striker, right and left winger and right back for Hertha 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 he’s yet ready to perform on the international level but he’s certainly a one for the future. Artur Wichniarek scored a vital goal for Arminia in their fight against relegation. After the game he gave a comment that he doesn’t believe that single goals will convince Leo to take him to the Euros. I agree with King Artur on this one; he’s an experienced player and Leo knows what to expect of him. It’s just a matter of our manager needing this type of player or not.

In a Polish league classic Legia defeated Wisla 2-1. The game was not as important as it could be since Wisla was crowned Polish champions a week ago. Wisla’s coach even decided to rest the league’s top goalscorer, Pawel Brozek, in the first half. Even though there were many current and former Bialo Czerwoni players on the field it was eighteen year old Maciej Rybus (pictured with Kuba Wawrzyniak) who stole the show. Rybus scored both goals for Legia (3rd and 4th of the season) and is on the best way to be named a biggest surprise of the season (he wasn’t even included in Legia’s squad at the beginning of the campaign). It’s, of course, too early to objectively evaluate his potential but the more young players impress in the Polish league the better. As for the current national team players, Dariusz Dudka received a red card for a brutal tackle, Adam Kokoszka couldn’t really fill the boots of Arkadiusz Glowacki in Wisla’s defence and Wojciech Lobodzinski had a quiet game and was substituted after the first half. Both Jakub Wawrzyniak and Roger performed well for Legia. The highlight of the match was Brozek’s missed penalty. He wanted to repeat Zidane’s trick from the WC final but unfortunately Legia’s keeper, Jan Mucha, didn’t move an inch so the ball landed comfortably in his hands. The most important conclusion of the game is that Wisla needs to strengthen their current squad in order to compete in Europe.

In other news, two Polish players returned from injury this weekend. Just a week ago I reported on Pawel Golanski’s injury which was supposed to be a serious one. Fortunately, it wasn’t and Pawel was ready to play this weekend. He was so energetic that he got involved in a fight and was sent off in the 90th minute. Better a red card than a long term injury. Dawid Janczyk also seems to have recovered from an injury, but we can’t be sure really as he spent the whole game on CSKA’s bench. Grzegorz Bronowicki underwent a surgery and won’t be available for Red Star in the next couple of weeks. Luckily, he should be ready for our Euro training camp. Finally, it wouldn’t be an Old Firm derby without some controversy from Artur Boruc. This time he proudly presented a T-shirt with an image of John Paul II on it. Just a small addition to his ritual cross sign before the game to irritate the Rangers fans. Way to go Artur!

Highlights: Kuba’s goal against Eintracht, Piszczek’s impressive 1st goal for Hertha, Wichniarek’s ninth goal of the season, Brozek’s goal and missed penalty against Legia, Majewski’s goal against Widzew.