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Squad Watch: Week 7. Title Race Still On In Poland.

April 27th, 2009 | By: tomasz | 19 Comments »

Not much changed in the race for the Polish championship after Legia Warsaw drew with Lech Poznan at the weekend. In the game watched by Leo Beenhakker Legia was much better in the first half, whereas Lech controlled the game after the break. The third championship contender, Wisla Krakow, is most satisfied with the result.

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- SPL didn’t play
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- on the bench against Middlesbrough
Wojciech Kowalewski (Iraklis Thessaloniki)- on the bench against Skoda
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- not in the squad against Tottenham
Sebastian Przyrowski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Odra, note 6
Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United)- SPL didn’t play

Defenders:

Barosz Bosacki (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes and a an assist against Legia, note 6
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre)- 72 minutes against Caen
Seweryn Gancarczyk (Metalist Kharkiv)- on the bench against Metalurg
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest)- 90 minutes against Gaz Metan
Tomasz Jodlowiec (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Odra, note 6
Adam Kokoszka (Empoli F.C.)-not in the squad against Piacenza
Marcin Komorowski (Legia Warsaw)- on the bench against Lech
Marcin Kowalczyk (Dinamo Moscow)- on the bench against Krylia
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Wisla., note 5
Piotr Polczak (Cracovia Krakow)- 90 minutes against Polonia Bytom, note 5
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 58 minutes and a goal against Dender
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Panathinaikos)- 90 minutes against OFI
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan)- not in the squad against Legia, injury
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- 90 minutes against Thrasivoulos

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Legia, note 6
Rafal Boguski (Wisla Krakow)-90 minutes and a goal against Gornik, note 7
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 66 minutes against HSV
Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes and an assist against Lech, note 6
Jacek Krzynowek (Hannover 96)- not in the squad against FC Koeln, injury
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk)- 19 minutes against Chernomorets
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)- 21 minutes and an assist against Gornik, note 6
Radoslaw Majewski (Polonia Warsaw)- 62 minutes against Odra, note 4
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Legia, note 5
Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 77 minutes and a goal against Znicz, note 7
Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan)-90 minutes against Legia, note 5
Bartosz Salamon (Brescia)- not in the squad against Mantova
Lukasz Tralka (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes and a goal against Odra, note 6
Jakub Wilk (Lech Poznan)- 27 minutes against Legia, note 5

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes and two goals against Gornik, note 8
Dawid Janczyk (Lokeren)- 90 minutes and a goal against Mouscron
Michal Janota (Feyenoord Rotterdam)- not in the squad against Den Haag
Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre)- 90 minutes and two goals against Caen
Robert Lewandowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes and a goal against Legia, note 6
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- 78 minutes against Hoffenheim
Grzegorz Rasiak (Watford)- 90 minutes and a goal against Coventry
Marek Saganowski (Southampton)- 18 minutes against Burnley
Ebi Smolarek (Bolton Wanderers)- on the bench against Aston Villa
Lukasz Sosin (Anorthosis Famagusta)- 83 minutes against APOEL
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- not in the squad against Borussia M., injury
Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)- on the bench against Wisla
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- 89 minutes against Levadiakos

Summary: Maybe the level of the Lech-Legia classic wasn’t the highest but nevertheless the game managed to deliver a lot of thrills. Wojskowi started the game a lot better, they were exchanging passes in the midfield easily and managed to put constant pressure on Lech players. As always in the games watched by a large number of foreign scouts Roger flourished and proved that he’s still there among the best playmakers of the Ekstraklasa. Legia was better organized and looked physically superior. They won the battle in the midfield as Rafal Murawski and Tomasz Bandrowski lost the ball too easily on a number of occasions. The goal was scored by the prolific Takesure Chinyama after a great cross from Roger. Lech looked defeated, the Kolejorz players had no idea whatsoever on how to play. It all changed in the second half. Franz Smuda proved his motivational skills and the Lech players were a completely different lot after the break. Murawski, and especially Bandrowski, finally started to distribute the ball faster. There were dangerous shots by Peszko and Stilic, but it was Robert Lewandowski who became Poznan’s hero. After being cut out from the passes throughout the whole game Lewy finally managed to react faster than Legia defenders and put the ball in the net. Stilic could have won the game for Lech, but failed to direct a right foot shot at the goal. The game maintained the status quo in the league. Lech and Wisla are now both one point behind Legia. There is only one classic left this season, Wisla vs. Legia, so probably the championship will be won in the games against minor opponents. The Krakow team looks in best form at the moment, but, to be honest, it all changes on weekly basis. Whoever wins the championship, I hope it will be a team strong enough to fight seriously for the Champions League qualification. Whose your favourite to finish first in the Ekstraklasa?

Pawel Brozek once again showed that he’s far too good for the Polish Ekstraklasa. In what was his first game after coming back from a serious injury, Broziu scored twice and is chasing Chinyama to defend his top goalscorer crown. Brozek looks fit and healthy and should be the key element in Wisla’s championship challenge. What’s best, Broziu’s fast recovery means that there is still a chance for a big move abroad in the summer.

Auxerre may be becoming too small a pond for Ireneusz Jelen. Ten goals in an injury raided season is a great result. I think we can expect some serious offers from better clubs in the summer. A good team that likes to employ a counter attack strategy would be perfectly suited for Jelonek. I don’t see Auxerre holding desperately on our player, they usually let their stars go when a good offer is on the table. Jelen is in the best age for a football player and this is the time he should use to complete his big money move.

Marek Saganowski’s Southampton is relegated. I expect him to get a lot of offers from the Championship and the Polish league as well. I think his style is perfectly suited for the league he’s currently playing in and I hope he’ll make a wise decision to stay in England.

Dawid Janczyk’s loan move once again proved to be a great idea. The young Pole is slowly making a name for himself and I think there is potential for him becoming Lokeren’s top goalscorer next season. Wlodzimierz Lubanski’s private lessons are paying off. Leo should also take notice of that and call up Janczyk for the friendlies against South Africa and Iraq, he should be slowly brought into the Bialo Czerwoni team.

Highlights: Jelen’s double

Marcin Wasilewski is a threat in front of goal

Wasilewski Vs. Dender

Dawid Janczyk’s fourth of the season

Grzegorz Rasiak fights against relegation

Sorry, but I don’t know how to embed Ekstraklasa videos. I can only provide links.

Legia vs. Lech highlights

Lukasz Tralka finds the net for Polonia

Brozek’s and Boguski score for Wisla

Tags: Bandrowski, Boguski, Brozek, Group A, Janczyk, Jelen, Murawski, Poland, rasiak, Robert Lewandowski, Saganowski, Squad Watch, Tralka, Wasiewski

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Comments

By adas | April 28th, 2009 at 10:33 pm

with the title race so close, its sad that more people aren’t interested in it. I know the Champion’s League, the UEFA Cup, and other leagues are going on. But the bigger leagues don’t always produce quality football at the end of their seasons, particularly when someone is running away with the league. Doesn’t a title race make everything more exciting? It just feels like even the people on this blog who don’t regularly visit the Poland site consider all things Polish a joke. I admit I can’t see the games as I just don’t have the money to right now, but even looking at the results shows how exciting even the Polish league can be. Oh well, maybe one day people will take more notice.

By zaraza | April 29th, 2009 at 2:54 am

Has it been confirmed that we’re playing Iraq? It’s not listed on the PZPN website. I was hoping for a stronger opponent.

In any case, I hope Obraniak will have his citizenship approved before then. We need him to play in at least one of these friendlies, so that there won’t be any communication mishaps come the qualifiers…

There’s also been some talk about Beenhakker being interested in Dawid Nowak. He seems a pretty good striker but injury-prone.

Piszczek will probably get a call-up, he seems a very versatile player which could be useful to us. From what I’ve read though, Hertha don’t seem to think he’s suited for the striker role… in his entire time at the club, they’ve played him only once or twice in that position… They prefer him as a midfielder, sometimes he even plays as a defender! This past weekend he started on the left wing, then when their right-back got injured, they asked Piszczek to take over that position. He did a pretty good job apparently.

Posted from Canada

By marco | April 29th, 2009 at 11:24 am

Any new news on obraniak citizenship. I hope I am wrong but I have a feeling he may let us down on joining Poland. Is his request to play for Poland real or pressure on the french to play him. I will not be happy until I see an eagle on his chest. @ adas i do not think anyone visiting this site have lost interest in the polish league in fact the two closest leagues in Europe (polish league and the german league) have been my favourites this year. I really could not give a sh@t about my boyhood team liverpool anymore along with the overpaid players of the english league.

By MarcinO | April 29th, 2009 at 11:40 am

I haven’t been following football for long but I’ve been told that this season of the Ekstraklasa has been one of the most exciting in recent years. I am more drawn to it than some of the other leagues that are shoved down our throats. As a Wisla supporter, this season had it all. From beating Barcelona to Brozek’s dramatic comeback from injury. I follow it more closely than other leagues and watch when I can.

I think people are bandwagon jumpers by nature, not just teams but leagues as well. To not support your own league because it is not as strong as some of the others is probably the main problem. People expect it to grow on its own. I always put Wisla ahead of the other teams I like because I was born in Krakow. As a fan, I want our national team to do well. That all depends on the strength and ability of the domestic league to produce talent. I would rather support the Ekstraklasa and see them do well as opposed to other leagues that mean nothing in the end. If everyone abroad would follow their team more closely, then by sheer numbers alone we would help out the Ekstraklasa teams get better sponsor deals and so on.

Wasn’t Iraq the African champions? I think that they will prove to be great opponents. It will give our team a chance to see a different style of play.

By zaraza | April 29th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

I agree with MarcinO, if we want the Ekstraklasa to improve in quality, we need to support it, and not waste our time getting worked up over some foreign club with which we have no real connection. It’s just stupid to declare undying allegiance to Manchester United or Liverpool when neither you nor your parents were born there.
And in general, the foreign leagues have done nothing to earn our support. Quite the opposite in fact. A couple months ago, Wichniarek gave an interview revealing how badly Poles are treated in the Bundesliga… The EPL is no better, it’s filled with overpaid, arrogant idiots. There’s no point in wasting our time and money on them.

Posted from Canada

By adas | April 29th, 2009 at 5:26 pm

That’s kind of my point. I almost feel like there’s a form of racism going on in the leagues of the world when it comes to Poland and its players. I understand that we may not have the best players, but it seems hard to find a starting player from Poland in the foreign leagues. How did this happen? Its like Poland is on the European continent, but miles and miles away in terms of its football.

By adas | April 29th, 2009 at 5:28 pm

And Marco, I recognize that some people do enjoy it. If you look at some of the other blogs here, you get a sense that Poland isn’t taken seriously. I’ve seen quite a few posts or link to posts on the main page that do nothing more than poke fun at Artur Boruc. There are other things going on in Polish football other than Artur. That’s my rant.

By paradowski | April 29th, 2009 at 10:48 pm

Thanks for the highlights and links tomasz! ^ tomasz and MarcinO — Yeah! Brozek looks in great form and throwing his body up and around like he was never injured. Jelen is awesome – incredible control (first touch and shot) on his second goal.

I’m fed-up with so much of the English football commentary and especially with their ManUtd love affair. I am rooting for Barcelona in the Champions league. That’s cool that Wisla beat Barca! How did I miss that? (actual I was so busy and working out of town in Massachusetts last August).

I would like to find more ways to watch and support the Ekstraklasa. I have finally been able to watch a few games through that justin.tv streaming, but most of those websites suck and I have a family around so I have to be careful about advertisements that popup when looking for games. It is not really supporting the Polish league watching live streaming this way. Does anyone know if ekstraklasa.tv offers the games over the internet? I have Polish language books but didn’t use them much until recently; now I am trying more diligently to learn Polish. I have had internet in my home for about a year now, and not until this access could I get regular Polish football updates and now I am truly a passionate fan. I cannot say enough how much I appreciate and enjoy the information and updates that tomasz and all you guys add to this site!

It would be cool to hear more about the Polish teams the people here support. I’m cheering for Lech Poznan to win the championship because I became a huge fan of the team and Smuda during their UEFA cup run.

Posted from United States

By goose | April 30th, 2009 at 3:34 am

Why are you guys whining soooooooooo much? You were able to qualify for two world cups and an European cup in a row WITHOUT ANY WORLD CLASS PLAYERS, and with very few players playing in respectable leagues. That’s a very remarkable archievment already, which shows that with hard work and willpower alone you can get very far.

I always said that if my team (the Netherlands) played with as much heart, and worked so hard as countries like Poland, we would’ve finally won something. But no, our team is full of arrogant douche bags, who maybe are some of the best of the world, but most of them don’t give a crap about their country, and so whe’ll never win anything.

So chin up guys, can’t you see the team’s getting better and better?
You’ll have a good chance at winning something at EURO 2012, since Poland’s are known as giant killers when playing at home.

Posted from Netherlands

By chat | April 30th, 2009 at 5:39 am

than you

By Sohbet | April 30th, 2009 at 5:40 am

eywallah

By Muhabbet | April 30th, 2009 at 5:54 am

Thank you

By Dost | April 30th, 2009 at 5:54 am

tesekkurler

By drewsky | April 30th, 2009 at 7:27 am

Interesting post there goose.Are you being a little hard on your boys there? But otherwise some factual points you brought up there.

As far as the Polish league,it is great to see the race going to the wire.

Go Polska

Posted from United States

By goose | April 30th, 2009 at 8:28 am

Nah, it’s not hard, it’s reality.

The nationalism is really missing in this country (many people don’t even know the national anthem, and they’re always getting worked up about the “From German blood” line. Yes, we are from German blood, that’s how it went, we can’t change it. However, the current prince of Oranje (Who’ll soon become king) IS half-German, but no one seems to care about that. Hypocrite much?). Also today’s Queen’s day, but no one cares: No one hangs out the flags, or even think about their Queen or country, they’re only interested in having a free day.

And this whole mentality really reflects on the Dutch national team: Amazing players, who don’t care enough to win something.

BTW, I’m missing Polish players in the Eredevisie, what happened? I liked them a lot, since they were mostly honest and hard working.
I still remember Ebi Smolarek well, who while not being the most talented player, compensated that with hard work and dedication. Feyenoord were amazingly stupid selling him. This is also why Dirk Kuyt is my favorite player in the national team: Not the most technical, but with his hard work and willpower he ALWAYS delivered, and ALWAYS gave it all for Orange.

Posted from Netherlands

By tomasz | April 30th, 2009 at 9:43 am

Thanks for the responses, I can see that some people follow the Ekstraklasa closely after all. This season is one of the most exciting in years, three great teams from big cities fight for the championship. What’s best, our league is having an incredible potential for growth. We’re already building new stadiums for Euro 2012 in Warsaw, Poznan and Krakow with the Stadion Slaski in Chorzow being constantly modernised. The work has also started in Gdansk and Wroclaw. Moreover, Euro 2012 cities are not the only ones that invest in football infrastructure: there is a new stadium in Kielce, the one in Lubin is almost finished, there are plans to build new stadiums in Zabrze, Gliwice and Bialystok. Apart from the national team stadium, Legia is building their own one in Warsaw. In a couple of seasons most Ekstraklasa clubs should have their stadiums on a good European level. This would mean more people coming to the games (it’s already happening in Poznan) and more money for the clubs. I’m not claiming that we’ll become a European powerhouse overnight, but there are reasons to be positive. After visits on stadiums in Poznan and Lubin I can say that the games just look better because of new suuroundings, even when the level of the game is not that high.

@paradowski

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how to watch the Ekstraklasa games online. In Poland, Canal Plus has the rights to the games and four matches a year are broadcasted by the public television, open for everybody. There are highlights magazines both in Canal Plus and TVP. I know that you can install Polish digital tv in Europe (I watched the games in Scotland or Belgium), but I don’t think the case is the same in the USA. Fortunately, all the highlights are free on the Ekstraklasa webpage.

@zaraza

We’ll certainly play against the South Africa. I remember that initially we were to play against Spain too, but later Iraq came into picture. I don’t know if it’s a confirmed date, but Polish newspapers are writing about it as such. I haven’t got any new info about Obraniak, I only read that if his father (or grandfather) didn’t resign from the Polish citizenship he’s automatically elligible for it. Dawid Nowak may get a call up this time, Ulatowski is lobbing strongly for him.

@goose

From the perspective of an outsider our qualifications are a great achievement, no doubt. However, sometimes Polish fans think more of their players than they really are. As a result, we’re often disappointed with the results, even though the level of our players shouldn’t permit us to expect too much. We’ve got tradition, there are 40 million people living in our country, football is the most popular sport, still we fail to “produce” international level players. As for Poles in Holland, we’ve got youngsters like Janota in Feyenoord, Wojciechowski in Heerenveen or Pacuszka in Heracles. They are yet to resurface to play in the first teams. I haven’t heard of any offers for the national team players, though it may change with Leo advicing Feyenoord.

By adas | April 30th, 2009 at 10:39 am

Goose, I’m not whining.I’m just stating that I hardly ever run into someone like you, not from Poland or with Polish ancestry, who has any respect for our football team. I was watching the Wales vs Poland match, and the commentators not only said that Wales should have won the match, but that it should have been a land slide. This is Wales they were talking about. I know Poland isn’t a powerhouse,they may never be. But for Wales to consider themselves superior to the Polish team when they themsleves have nothing to show for themselves, well that’s just ridiculous.

By goose | April 30th, 2009 at 10:47 am

I’m sorry adas if I offended you, Polish people seem to be overly critical of themselves in general, I see this in the few Polish mates I have. And I agree 100%. Wales actually had world class players + players playing in strong leagues, yet never managed to even take part in the world cup. Fool’s talk, if you ask me.

I’ll continue my comment in the next article.

Posted from Netherlands

By MarcinO | April 30th, 2009 at 11:35 am

Goose, I hear what you are saying. But believe me, a lot of countries would love to have that problem and would be more than happy if their players dominated the Real Madrid starting eleven. As for the lack of heart issue, its not a problem when on any given day your guys are the favourites to win. Any country that plays Netherlands respects their skills and what they are capable of. Your domestic league is very respectable as well.

The lack of any big name players compiled with the lack of strength of our domestic league will make anyone a little concerned. Our FA is still stuck in the middle ages with no positive changes on the horizon. And if you add the corruption of the domestic league, it leaves the state of Polish football very gloomy. But I guess Tomasz is right with what he said. Lech Poznan is the perfect example of things getting better.

A lot of our fans are overly optimistic at times and those are the same ones that are the most angry and disappointed when reality sets in. Its that old school way of thinking. The older fans remember the good old days and expect the same today. I blame the old farts that ran the Polish FA back then. They should have taken advantage of their success and worked to build the game on a solid foundation.

I would love to be able to watch games live online…legally. I wouldn’t even mind paying like $10-15 a month to have access to all the games live online. I think Setanta broadband and espn have something similar.

Comments are closed