Thailand-Poland 1:3. A Good Result For A Change.

January 21st, 2010 | by: tomasz | Comments(13)

Well, we haven’t hit the rock bottom yet. Poland defeated the hosts of the King’s Cup 3:1 after goals from Kamil Glik, Patryk Malecki and Marcin Robak. To be honest, the style of our display wasn’t that much better from the performance against Denmark, but at least this time around we’ve got some material for analysis (meaning some players showed a bit of promise). We end our Thai escapade on Saturday with the game against Singapore.

Thailand-Poland 1:3 (Chaiman 90′pen – Glik 43′, Małecki 52′, Robak 86′)
Poland: Przyrowski – Mierzejewski, Jodlowiec, Glik (78′ Piotr Brozek), Sadlok – Peszko, Bandrowski, Iwanski (83′ Gol), Rybus (89′ Brzyski) – Malecki (70′ Robak), Lewandowski (89 T.Nowak)

We started the game in an offensive fashion with a long distance shot from Slawomir Peszko, offensive runs from Lukasz Mierzejewski and a back heel shot by Maciej Rybus. The energy lasted for the first 15 minutes, after that it was Thailand that had more of the ball and more from the game. The Thai players didn’t create clear chances, but they controlled the possession, which was at the same time surprising and irritating. The Bialo Czerwoni lacked accuracy, especially when bringing out the ball from our own half. Tomasz Bandrowski took some unnecessary risks, Maciej Iwanski was disappearing for large parts of the game and Robert Lewandowski couldn’t keep the ball upfront. However, it was Patryk Malecki who gave the ball away most of the times with mistimed passes. Luckily, we started to regain the initiative at the end of the first half. The Thai players are not the tallest around so it was clear that we should be dangerous at set pieces. We used our physical advantage to good effect in the 43rd minute when Kamil Glik pushed the ball into the Thai goal after a nice free kick by Maciej Rybus. A sign of relief on the Polish bench and lowered heads on the Thai side. It seemed like that goal took all of the energy away from the hosts as we controlled the second half easily. There was no pressing on our opponent’s side, the game slowly stopped to resemble a serious international encounter. This all enabled Lukasz Mierzejewski to show why exactly Smuda trusts him so much. The Cracovia player made the right side of the field his (with Peszko operating more in the middle) and ran continuosly from one penalty area to the other. One of those moves ended with the second goal for the Bialo Czerwoni, when Mierzejewski’s cross was changed into a goal by Malecki (Iwanski and Rybus also played some part in the goal). After that it was clear that Thailand can’t really hurt us. The only person on the field that could hurt us was the Tanzanian referee who gave away far too many soft free kicks and gave Slawomir Peszko a red card for unobvious reasons (probably for discussions with the ref, but still undeservedly). Regardless of that fact, we managed to keep the momentum going almost till the final whistle. Marcin Robak scored his first goal for the national team after a very good run by Maciej Rybus. Not to leave the hosts with empty hands, the Tanzanian referee decided to award them the softest of penalties possible (Sadlok barely touched one of the Thai players). To top that, he gave them an opportunity to repeat the initial shot saved by Sebastian Przyrowski. Well, at least I know which African referee I definitely don’t want to see at this year’s World Cup.

Was this performance better than the one against Denmark? Hard to judge since the opponent was an inferior one. At least Franz Smuda could highlight Mierzejewski and Glik in his notebook after the game.

Player Ratings (1-10):

Sebastian Przyrowski 6: made one mistake when he missed the ball after one of Thai crosses. Other than that he was quite confident as the Thai strikers couldn’t harm him much in the air. Saved a penalty, a shame that the Tanzanian referee stole his moment of glory.
Lukasz Mierzejewski 6: definitely one of the best things that happened in this game. A lot of offensive runs; in the second half he took part in the majority of our offensive moves. Confident on the ball, with nice crossing ability.
Tomasz Jodlowiec 4: another unconvincing performance by the Polonia defender. If he’s often outplayed by Thai strikers what will happen in more serious games?
Kamil Glik 7: scored a goal in his debut game and played like a professor when compared to Jodlowiec. A player with tons of character, just look how he cheered after the initial goal.
Maciej Sadlok 4: doesn’t really know how to play at left back. Couldn’t decide when to make the forward runs.
Slawomir Peszko 5: played more in the middle and left space for Mierzejewski on the right side. An interesting move by Smuda, but Peszko’s performance was shadowed by a stupidly earned red card.
Tomasz Bandrowski 5: mixed great interceptions and wise passes with unnecessary turnovers. I have a bad feeling that he won’t really surpass his current level.
Maciej Iwanski 5: in this case I’m sure that Iwanski won’t surpass his current level. Good when the team plays well, but unable to take the initiative into his hands when we play badly.
Maciej Rybus 7: a number of good runs, played his part in all of our three goals. A player that is quickly advancing in Smuda’s ranks.
Patryk Malecki 5: scored a goal, but his inaccuracy upfront would be severely punished if we played against a tougher opponent.
Robert Lewandowski 4: absent, played as if taking part in this game was some sort of punishment for him.
Marcin Robak 6: very lively on the pitch, wanted to be a part of every single offensive play. Deserved his goal.
Piotr Brozek 5: I prefer him to Sadlok on the left back, but Brozek still haven’t done anything to convince Smuda.
Janusz Gol, Tomasz Brzyski, Tomasz Nowak: didn’t play long enough to be rated.

Conclusions:

- Kamil Glik and Lukasz Mierzejewski can be added to the group of players that should be tested in the upcoming, more serious friendlies.
- Maciej Rybus proved that he’s got enough potential for the national team. I think he even plays better for the Bialo Czerwoni than for Legia.
- Patryk Malecki needs to work on accuracy and decision making, otherwise his mistakes may prove too costly on an international stage.
- Robert Lewandowski should end his goal drought as soon as possible. We all know what he’s capable of, time to show it more often for the national team.
- it should be Maciej Sadlok’s last game as a left back.
- it’s no use to call up Tomasz Jodlowiec in his current form. He should prove that he’s back to his best in the Ekstraklasa first.
- Tomasz Bandrowski and Maciej Iwanski may be good enough for the likes of Thailand, but I’d really be hesitant to play them in more serious games.
- Slawomir Peszko needs to learn how to control his temper, it’s not the first time when he receives a stupid red card.

We should win the second place in the King’s Cup in our last game against Singapore. I hope Dawid Nowak will get a proper chance, other than that I think Smuda is playing the strongest squad possible. I don’t know whether I’ll watch the last game (I’ve got classes on Saturday), but probably my love for the national team will win with my sense of responsibility. Again.

Highlights:

Polska – Tajlandia

You can watch full highlights here.

Other news: Ireneusz Jelen scored his fifth goal of the season yesterday