Squad Watch-Week 9. Wisla Crowned Polish Champions.

It was a very interesting football weekend from a perspective of a Polish fan. Wisla Cracow won the Polish league title and is on the way to become the best team in the history, points wise. Jakub Blaszczykowski took part in a thrilling German Cup final and became one of its heroes (or anti-heroes) when he received a red card. Pawel Golanski got injured and his particiption in Euro is under threat. Finally, Michal Zewlakow won the Greek championship with Olympiakos and Magic Zurawski scored twice for Larissa.

First things first, here is all the data concerning Polish players. I decided to follow more than the thirty one initially called up by Leo for the Euros (I just find it fascinating to check Kosowski’s performances):

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- 90 minutes mid week against Rangers and 90 minutes against Aberdeen
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- not in the squad against Reading
Wojciech Kowalewski (Korona Kielce)- 90 minutes against Zaglebie Sosnowiec, note 5
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- 90 minutes against Blackburn
Sebastian Przyrowski (Groclin Grodzisk)- 90 minutes against Lech, note 6

Defenders:

Jacek Bak (Austria Vienna)- 90 minutes against Red Bull Salzburg
Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade)- on the bench against Vojvodina
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucarest)- 90 minutes and a goal mid week against U. Cluj and 66 minutes and an injury against Otelul
Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow)- 90 minutes against Dinamo
Adam Kokoszka (Wisla Cracow)- on the bench against Cracovia
Marcin Kus (Korona Kielce)- not in the squad against Zaglebie Sosnowiec, injury
Tomasz Lisowski (Widzew Lodz)- 90 minutes against Polonia Bytom, note 4
Arkadiusz Radomski (Austria Vienna)- 90 minutes against Red Bull Salzburg
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes against Standard Liege
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Odra, note 6
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- 90 minutes against Iraklis

Midfielders:

Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 90 minutes mid week against Hannover and 108 minutes and a red card against Bayern in German Cup final
Dariusz Dudka (Wisla Cracow)- 67 minutes against Cracovia, note 6
Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow)- 90 minutes and an assist against Ruch, note 6
Michal Golinski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 26 minutes against Jagiellonia, note 5
Kamil Grosicki (FC Sion)- not in the squad against Neuchatel, injury
Przemysław Kazmierczak (FC Porto)- on the bench against Benfica
Kamil Kosowski (Cadiz)- 16 minutes against Numancia
Jacek Krzynowek (VFL Wolfsburg)- 18 minutes mid week against Bochum and 10 minutes against Nurnberg
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shachtar Donieck)- 90 minutes against Metalurg
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Cracow)- 77 minutes and two assists against Cracovia, note 7
Radoslaw Majewski (Groclin Grodzisk)- 83 minutes against Lech, note 6
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes and a goal against Groclin, note 8
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against LKS, note 7
Roger (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes and an assist against Odra, note 7
Marek Zienczuk (Wisla Cracow)- 90 minutes against Cracovia, note 6

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Cracow)- 81 minutes and two goals against Cracovia, note 8
Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow)- not in the squad against Lokomotiw, injury
Radosław Matusiak (Wisla Cracow)- 13 minutes against Cracovia
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- 85 minutes mid week against HSV
Grzegorz Rasiak (Bolton)- 56 minutes and an injury against Middlesbrough
Marek Saganowski (Southampton)- 11 minutes against Burnley
Ebi Smolarek (Racing Santander)- 33 minutes against Real Madrid
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- 90 minutes mid week against Leverkusen
Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes and a goal against LKS, note 7
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- 90 minutes, two goals and an assist against PAOK

Summary: Wisla Cracow rediscovered their form this year to win the first Polish league championship since 2005 and they did it four games before the end of the season. The Wisla owner, Boguslaw Ciupial, wants to create a sort of Polish dream team in Cracow. Every Wisla player has an international experience and most of them have been tested by Leo Beenhakker in the national team. Four Wisla players (Dudka, Lobodzinski, Matusiak, Kokoszka) have big chance of international exposure in Austria this summer, whereas Pawel Brozek and Marek Zienczuk are considered the biggest absences in Leo’s initial Euro squad. Brozek’s having the season of his life (18 goals already); unfortunately he wasn’t able to transfer the high level of his play onto the international scene. Former Polish internationals: Radoslaw Sobolewski (already retired from international football), Marcin Baszczynski and Arkadiusz Glowacki also play a crucial role in the team. Next stop? Hopefully the Champions League. To achieve that Wisla can’t sell any of the leading players (especially Dudka and Brozek) and strengthen the squad in the summer. Wisla officials are hoping to extend Radoslaw Matusiak’s loan deal from Heerenven, a great move in my opinion. Moreover, they are planning to bring Jacek Krzynowek from Wolfsburg and Lukasz Gargula from Belchatow to Cracow. Krzynowek would add extra Champions League experience, whereas it’s high time for Gargula to change the club for a better and prove that he is a player of European potential. Wisla will also probably scout other transfer markets (the Balkans, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Southern Europe) and hopefully find players of Cleber (Brazilian) and Cantoro (Argentinian) potential. It’s going to be a very interesting summer for Wisla fans this year.

Ok, let’s return to strictly national team bussiness. I watched the German Cup final between Bayern and Dortmund this weekend. As I’m not a great Bundesliga fan I watched it mainly to check Kuba Blaszczykowski’s form. The game, however, turned out to be a nice treat. What’s even better, Kuba looked really in good shape. He played most of the game as a right midfielder and was shifted to a right back position when Borussia hopelessly needed to score a goal. Kuba has already played as a right back in his Wisla times. I think that’s a very interesting option for Leo when the need for a gung-ho attack comes as he’s a very offensive right back knowing when exactly to support the right winger. Unforunately, Kuba also managed to receive a red card in the extra time. He was awarded his first yellow for an Oscar-winning dive in the box and the second for stopping Bayern’s counter attack (didn’t have to be given). That was already his third game after an injury; it shows that he’s considered one of the most important players in Dortmund. All in all, I think that Kuba will develop to become an even better player and Borussia is a good place to do so.

Bad news came from Romania. After impressing local journalists, scoring his first goal and being heralded the best right back in the Romanian league Pawel Golanski got injured at the weekend. Apparently, the injury is a serious one. We should know the level of seriousness of his injury in the days to come. From what we know now, Golanski’s participation in Euro 2008 is under threat. Considering Wasyl’s average form this year we’re not left with much options at the right back (Wawrzyniak, maybe Kokoszka). Any ideas on who could possibly cover Golanski’s absence?

This weekend marked the end of the season in Greece. Michal Zewlakow and Olympiakos Pireus won the championship after some controversy concerning their game against Apollon (Olympiakos lost but got the points because of an ‘illegal’ player in Apollon’s squad). It’s another championship for Zewlakow, he’s already collected trophies both from Greece and Belgium. He’s one of the most consistent and respected players at Olympiakos. I always wondered if Zewlak would make it in a better league like Premiership or Seria A. We’ll never know probably. Magic Zurawski ended the season on a good note after scoring two goals in the last game (he ended with six for the season). It has to be said that Magic’s decision to leave Celtic was a good one; he earned confidence and reminded himself of how to find the net. Now it’s crucial that both Zuraw and Zewlak know how to keep their form until June.

Finally, two more piece of news concerning our players. Lukasz Fabianski is to be given an extended run in Arsenal’s first team for the remaining games of the season. That’s his chance to show Mr Wenger that he doesn’t need to buy a new keeper in the summer. Guardian is also informing about a possible transfer of a Brazilian Jo from CSKA Moscow to Manchester City. That can open a route to the CSKA’s first squad for Dawid Janczyk. A little far fetched this one but, hey, who knows?

Highlights: Lobo assists and Brozek scores first and second goal, Murawski scores for Lech, a beautiful Roger’s assist, Zurawski’s performance against PAOK

Update: Golanski’s injury seems not as serious as expected, he may even play in Steaua’s next game. Uff.