Squad Watch-Week 3.

Another weekend, another Squad Watch. Polish troops are in full preparation for an assault on the beautiful Swiss and Austrian stadiums. Some soldiers are already in good shape and some are looking for the long awaited form. Here’s the report:

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- 90 minutes against Aberdeen
Jerzy Dudek (Real Madrid)- on the bench against Espanyol
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- not in the squad against Wigan
Bartosz Fabiniak (Widzew Lodz)- 90 minutes against Lech, note 5
Wojciech Kowalewski (Korona Kielce)- 90 minutes against Ruch Chorzow, note 5
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- 31 minutes and a red card against Portsmouth
Mariusz Pawelek (Wisla Cracow)- 90 minutes against GKS Belchatow, note 7
Sebastian Przyrowski (Groclin Grodzisk)- 90 minutes against Polonia Bytom, note 7

Defenders:

Jacek Bak (Austria Vienna)- not in the squad against LASK
Grzegorz Baran (Ruch Chorzow)- 90 minutes against Korona, note 7
Grzegorz Bartczak (Zaglebie Lubin)- 90 minutes against Odra, note 6
Marcin Baszczynski (Wisla Cracow)- 90 minutes against GKS Belchatow, note 6
Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade)- not in the squad against Banat, yellow cards
Piotr Brozek (Wisla Cracow)- 90 minutes and an assist against GKS Belchatow, note 7
Lukasz Broz (Widzew Lodz)- on the bench against Lech
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucarest)- 90 minutes against S.C. Pandurii
Arkadiusz Głowacki (Wisla Cracow)- 90 minutes against GKS Belchatow, note 7
Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow)- winter break
Adam Kokoszka (Wisla Cracow)- not in the squad against GKS Belchatow, injury
Marcin Kus (Korona Kielce)- 90 minutes against Ruch Chorzow, note 6
Tomasz Lisowski (Widzew Lodz)- 90 minutes against Lech, note 5
Mariusz Pawelec (Gornik Zabrze)- not in the squad against Jagiellonia, injury
Arkadiusz Radomski (Austria Vienna)- not in the squad against LASK
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes against Charleroi
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Zaglebie Sosnowiec, note 4
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- on the bench against Veria

Midfielders:

Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- not in the squad against Hertha, injury
Rafal Boguski (Wisla Cracow)- 84 minutes against GKS Belchatow, note 6
Grzegorz Bonin (Korona Kielce)- 45 minutes against Ruch Chorzow, note 3
Dariusz Dudka (Wisla Cracow)- 6 minutes against GKS Belchatow
Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow)- 90 minutes against Wisla Cracow, note 5
Michal Golinski (Zaglebie Lubin)- not in the squad against Odra, injury
Konrad Golos (Gornik Zabrze)- not in the squad against Jagiellonia, injury
Rafal Grzelak (Skoda Xanthi)- 86 minutes and a goal against Iraklis
Maciej Iwanski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 90 minutes, a goal and an assist against Odra, note 8
Przemysław Kazmierczak (FC Porto)- on the bench against Academica de Coimbra
Robert Kolendowicz (Zaglebie Lubin)- 83 minutes against Odra, note 6
Kamil Kosowski (Cadiz)- 59 minutes against Eibar
Jacek Krzynowek (VFL Wolfsburg)- on the bench against Energie Cottbus
Piotr Kuklis (Widzew Lodz)- 19 minutes against Lech Poznan, note 5
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shachtar Donieck)- on the bench against Vorksla Poltava
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Cracow)- 59 minutes against GKS Belchatow, note 5
Radoslaw Majewski (Groclin Grodzisk)- 78 minutes and an assist against Polonia Bytom, note 7
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Widzew, note 5
Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 72 minutes and an assist against Odra, note 7
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Jagiellonia, note 7
Roger (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes and an assist against Zaglebie Sosnowiec, note 5
Marek Zienczuk (Wisla Cracow)- 76 minutes and a goal against GKS Belchatow, note 7

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Cracow)- 90 minutes and a goal against GKS Belchatow, note 7
Kamil Grosicki (Sion)- on the bench against FC Lucerne
Radosław Matusiak (Wisla Cracow)- didn’t play against GKS Belchatow, injury
Dawid Nowak (GKS Belchatow)- didn’t play against Wisla Cracow, injury
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- 1 minute against Borussia Dortmund
Grzegorz Rasiak (Bolton)- game against ManUtd postponed
Marek Saganowski (Southampton)- 72 minutes against Blackpool
Ebi Smolarek (Racing Santander)- 21 minutes and an assist against Betis
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- 90 minutes against Schalke
Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes and a goal against Jagiellonia, note 8
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- 90 minutes against Panathinaikos

Summary: A lot of names there. I’m wating for Leo to reduce the list to 30 players at the end of March as he promised; it’ll save me some work. Not much happening on behalf of the Polish players playing abroad, no spectacular goals or assists. I had a chance to watch the game between Panathinaikos and Larissa (2-0) on Polsat Sport. Zurawski played for 90 minutes as a lone striker. He looked quite lively, especially in the first half, didn’t lose the ball and had a couple of opening passes. However, he didn’t manage to have a shot on goal as his two efforts were blocked. Larissa seems a nice team to watch, they exchange a lot of passes and try to play elegantly. Sometimes the players keep the ball too much, as if everyone believed to be the next Zidane. Magic looks ok to me, you can see that he’s forgetting about his Celtic depression; I’m confident he’ll be in shape when Euro comes. Tomasz Kuszczak blew his chance of earning more of sir Alex Ferguson’s trust when he received a red card after fouling (or not, it was hard to judge) Milan Baros in the penalty area in the game against Portsmouth. Now he’s facing a ban as well as sir Alex’s wrath and he won’t probably get another chance till the end of the season (Ben Foster will play in the next couple of matches if van der Sar’s injury proves to be serious). Not the best of weekends for our ambitious goalie. Lewandowski and Krzynowek had another frustrating weekend on the bench. For the Shachtar midfielder it was the second time in a row. Krzynowek was reduced to a spectator because of the return of Marcelinho to the Wolfsburg squad. Ebi Smolarek also started on the bench (Pedro Munitis recovered from an injury for Santander) but still managed to get an assist in the dying minutes of the game against Betis. In the Polish league Pawel Brozek and Tomasz Zahorski proved to be the best local striking prospects, scoring a goal each. Lobodzinski still doesn’t feel comfortable in the Wisla shirt, luckily nobody puts unnecessary pressure on him there. Roger was unable to show any Brazilian magic in Legia’s defeat with the table’s red lantern- Zaglebie Sosnowiec. To end in a positive way, Dariusz Dudka returned from an injury and played 6 minutes for Wisla.

Highlights: Brozek’s goal, Zienczuk’s header, Rafal Grzelak scores his fifth goal in Greece