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USA-Poland 2:2. Moments Of Satisfaction.
Comments(29)
Is this the first time that we’ve finally seen what Smuda is aiming for in the national team? More or less between the 20th and the 45th minute we were absolutely in control of the game. It was possession play at its best; not only keeping the ball, but creating chances as a result of this possession as well. No long balls forwards, just short, one two passes that left the Americans stranded. For the first time since the Serbia game, it was a pleasure to watch the Biało Czerwoni.
USA-Poland 2:2 (Altidore 12′, Onyewu 52′ – Matuszczyk 30′, Błaszczykowski 73′)
Poland: Artur Boruc – Łukasz Piszczek, Dariusz Pietrasiak, Michał Żewłakow, Łukasz Mierzejewski – Jakub Błaszczykowski, Adam Matuszczyk, Rafał Murawski, Ludovic Obraniak, Adrian Mierzejewski (71’ Andrzej Niedzielan) – Robert Lewandowski
Of course, our control of the game lasted only for 20-25 minutes. Still, I think it’s something that we can build on in the next games. What we have to improve, however, is our defense. First of all, we have huge problems when defending against set pieces. Everytime the Americans got a free kick or a corner it got extremely dangerous in front of our goal. Secondly, the positioning of our defensive line asks for improvement. The first conceded goal was a great example of how not to cover the opposing striker. Piszczek and Pietrasiak both let Jozy Altidore to run between them. Apart from the goal, Altidore also head two or three other great goalscoring chances, usually with no Polish defender at his back. Most often, it was Pietrasiak who wasn’t sure how he should react in the dangerous situations. I know why Smuda is testing him: he’s quite good when it comes to distributing the ball from the defense. However, this is not the most important quality you expect from a central defender. Finally, it also doesn’t help that we’ve got two former strikers playing as our full backs. Both Piszczek and Ł.Mierzejewski played as attackers in our youth teams and when they were starting their Ekstraklasa careers. They, especially Piszczek, give us a lot of options in the attack, but they don’t possess automatic, instinctive defensive reactions. As a result, our defense looked very disorganized at times, especially when the Americans recovered the bal in the middle of the field not giving us time to adjust the defensive line.
The question is: how come we managed to contol the possession for large parts of the game? I think it’s because we didn’t play our usual 4-3-3, but more of a 4-5-1 formation. We started with only one typical striker (Lewandowski) and our default left winger Ludo Obraniak spent as much time in the middle as he did on the left wing. In reality, we had five technically skilled players in the middle of the field, who exchanged passes with ease making it very difficult for the Americans to win back possession. The expulsion of Sławomir Peszko, the weakest member of our midfield when it came to keeping the ball, may do wonders for this team. On the other hand, such strategy leaves us only with one typical poacher and we have to count on the midfield to score goals. It worked yesterday with both Matuszczyk and Błaszczykowski getting on the scoresheet, but there may be times when our midfielders lack this finishing touch. One other thing I’ve noticed is that we gave away the control totally when Andrzej Niedzielan entered the field. It may be a result of our players’ fatigue, but it may also be a result of having one less player in the midfield (Niedzielan replaced A.Mierzejewski). 4-5-1 is a good tactical option, especially with players we have to our disposal (Majewski would fit into this tactics as well), but it’s got its drawbacks as well (less players in the opponents’ box). If we stick to it either Lewandowski or Jeleń will lose their place in the starting lineup. If we come back to 4-3-3 A.Mierzejewski is the first to be benched. Since we still don’t have a quality natural left attacker, I’d stick with 4-5-1 for the time being.
Player ratings:
Artur Boruc 6: didn’t have a chance to stop the goals. Saved one on one situation with Altidore and a close range mishit from Ł.Mierzejewski.
Łukasz Mierzejewski 5: not a great performance, but good when taking part in possession play. Some minor defensive mistakes. Inexplicably scared of crosses.
Michał Żewłakow 6: a good 100th cap, solid performance with no major mistakes
Dariusz Pietrasiak 3: is partially to blame for our two conceded goals. Had huge problems to cover Altidore, one mishit header even became an opening pass for the American striker.
Łukasz Piszczek 6: remains average in defense and good in offensive play. Needs to work on the accuracy of his crosses.
Rafał Murawski 5: at times a great oranizer in the middle of the field, regulated the tempo of our possession play. Two or three unnecessary and dangerous turnovers.
Adam Matuszczyk 6: in the first half he finally showed why he can be a valuable asset to this team. Less impresive in the second. Congrats on the first international goal.
Adrian Mierzejewski 5: no spectacular opening passes, but kept the ball very well and passed it with accuracy. A couple of effective dribbles.
Ludovic Obraniak 6: more a central midfielder than left winger. Very active, asked for the ball all the time. Assist for the Matuszczyk’s goal, great diagonal pass to Lewy for one on one, good shot from a free kick.
Jakub Błaszczykowski 7: what a goal! As always, took part in the vast majority of our attacks.
Robert Lewandowski 4: wasted a perfect opportunity to level the game. Not threatening enough in front of American goal.
Andrzej Niedzielan 4: came on the field when the team concentrated on the defense and therefore couldn’t show his attacking potential.
Conclusions:
- a lot of work on our defense is still needed. We lose our composure when the opponents start playing faster. What’s more alarming, we haven’t figured out how to defend against corners.
- Dariusz Pietrasiak can only increase the defensive problems, not solve them.
- Łukasz Mierzejewski remains a player who hasn’t done anything to rate him as a valuable member of the squad, but he also hasn’t done anything to leave him out of it.
- Łukasz Piszczek may be the most offensive right back I’ve ever seen in the national team. However, his crossing must improve.
- we may have a very useful box-to-box player in Adam Matuszczyk. He recovers the ball, passes it and shots. Able enough in all departments. I’ve finally seen why he plays regularly in the Bundesliga.
- once again, Ludo Obraniak is not a winger. He may start the game on the wing, but nevertheless spends most of the time in the middle. This enables us to take advantage in the centre, but leaves our left wing unoccupied. A certain injured left back from Bremen may be a solution to this problem.
- we play well when Kuba plays well. Not all his decisions were right, but the one about the shot definitely was.
- Smuda may continue talking about the constant building process and testing players, but results are very important for him too. Only one substitute in a friendly game? That clearly shows how much he wanted a good result.
Many people questined the sense of going in North America mid season. Fortunately, the game against the USA proved that it was all worth it. We played against a really tough opponent and managed to stand our ground in this encounter. Both teams were driven enough to make it less of a friendly match and more of a competetive game. Only in such circumstances we can build the character of our team.
Ps: Congrats to all the fans that turned up at the game. You made it sound like we were playing at home. I’m waiting for those pictures.
Highlights:
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 29 comments.
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Both Smolarek and Lewandowski should play when Jelen is unavailable.
Posted from 
United States
@Timmy, we certainly do have someone better than lewandowski and that’s jelen. lewy seems to miss too many sure thing goals. smolarek is only 29, hardly past his prime.
other than jelen, i mean come on guys, smolarek has flopped at every club he’s been at except maybe for Dortmund, yes i know he always manages to perform at the international level and im not saying that smuda should bench him or anything, give him a shot, but dont shoot lewy just because he panicked in a friendly game, he’s young, still learning to deal being under pressure give him some time
Lewandowski is not good enough actually for our NT, hope that he will be better in a year or two. For now Smolarek is our best player with Jelen when is healthy. I think that Obraniak rating is more 7 than 6, he was very good, and what a nice play for the first goal. The first good game of the Smuda team’s. Hope that we will be as good against ecuador, I will be in the stadium and try to catch good pictures.
This was a better side than the Polish Euro 08 and WC 06 teams… passes had purpose, there were signs of confidence even when down. This team would have beaten some of the WC 10 teams that played… that’s promising. The ref was poor but Poland is clearly not alone in getting bad calls on the international level and the players whining after every call only annoys the ref who added four extra minutes to the game even though two were clearly displayed, and that almost resulted in a loss. The defense is still shaky. Altiodore is an awful striker… it just shows the lack of quality of American soccer and coaching to keep him out there… the guys hides behind defenders and falls over whenever there is a ball near him… the fact he scored and had other chances indicates that this is still a real problem… Torres, Klose, Rooney, etc. would have had two or three goals here which is essentially what happened against Spain and Cameroon from what I’ve read, so that’s still the big pain. But the offense and midfield are encouraging. The Levy one on one was not as easy as everyone makes it out to be… the ball was traveling quick so could not chip it or dribble around, keeper had already cut off the angle so he could only fire low and hope to get past the reflexes which he tried. The corner goal lost was after a non-call by the ref that gave them the ball and they made a corner out of it… maybe they score at another time but that corner was not legit. As for the team, let’s see what happens next game, if they can build on this, it would be great. There was enough there to build from and improve with some hope. But that defense…
We will surely win against Ecuador, they are missing 8 first 11 players since they all left to go back to the clubs to play in the Cup games, so it will be Poland vs Ecuador subs and if we wont win that then i will be very surprised.
“For the first time since the Serbia game, it was a pleasure to watch the Biało Czerwoni.”
Which serbia game are you talking about? There have been few memorable games for us since November 2007, really god performance, maybe just maybe we are finally on to a winning formula. What a goal from Blaszczykowski!!!
Posted from 
New Zealand
As for Lewandowski, in my opinion he’s just behind Jeleń in strikers’ pecking order. He plays for a good club, with a perspective of improvement in the next 1,5 years. Ebi has been great for the national team, but the habit alone won’t score goals. He needs to be at the top of his form in Ekstraklasa as well, he’s still far from being his best. I think being an impact sub from the bench is the most fitting role for him at the moment.
@J
You’re right, it was Niedzielan.
@witold
Only today I realized that Obraniak assisted for the second goal as well, I should have given him 7.
@Kuba
We’ll be without Kuba nad Matuszczyk plus the injured players. Altohether we’ll be missing five players from the strongest lineup. I think every result is possible.
@blazej
I’m talking about this year’s friendly (0:0). We also had good moments then against a superior opponent.
I have to agree with Timmy and Tomasz on Lewandowski.Smolarek just gets physically overmatched when we need the win at international level of play,his role as Tomasz pointed out as an impact sub shows a little depth for the team.Obraniak is good,Boruc can still play,Great game,and nice to see Kuba.
Polskaaaa
Friggin
Wolskaaaaaa
Posted from United States
why wont Matuszczyk be playing? and since kuba and apparently matuszczyk are gone, then this should give playing time to majewski and really test him out and see if he’s developed in nottingham, maybe even salamon will come on??
The atmosphere at the game was great! A little disappointed in the attendance (32K) I expected closer to 45K. But the crowd made it sound like 60K.
It was great seeing the team live. A great game from Obraniak & Kuba. As a team they held posession for a long time & it finally looked like they knew what to do with the ball.
Lewy has to do better with the golden chances he gets.
Defense still needs to be fixed.
Tomasz – where do you want the pictures sent to?
Dariusz Pietrasiak better never play for Polska again. Next game I better see Grosicki, Majewski and Glik play!
Next game we are missing Kuba and Matuszczyk. Anyone else? I want Majewski to cover for Matuszczyk. Who will get the right wing? Grosicki? Kielb?
I’d like to see
Smolarek
Lewandowski
Grosicki – Obraniak – Majewski – Kielb
L.Mierzejewski – Zewlakow – Glik – Piszczek
A very young team!
What time is the game against Ecuador, local time?
@Marty: Montreal at 16h00
@nitram ur missing murawski
Thanks Witold. I’m going to watch it online at work. After a decent showing against the Americans, I think we are all expecting a win against Ecuador. We will have some key players missing, but we should be able to take it to them. However, this is the Polish National Team……..
Wow! what a great experience and atmosphere. My voice was lost the next day and somewhat still today from cheering for POL-SKA! Great game that we could have won. (I agree with above comments, but try to add some) Altidore is too athletic, that side of the D should have watched and marked him better; he would have got a step or two ahead anyway, but that first goal looked way too easy. Seeing Żewłakow live, I have a much greater respect and appreciation, he was dominate at times defending his territory (late appreciation I know, but the D often isn’t in highlights or are on the bad side of highlights). I certainly also had concerns with defending of set pieces (thought of mariusz lewy and if he could help with that, and play a center defender) The US though, is physical and particularly good at set pieces. Obraniak had a GREAT game imo: he had a sense of poise and a confident air that seemed to run over to his teammates on the field. He saw the field well and had a great balance between quick action responses and patient confident controlled handling and passes — These characters shined on Ludo’s quick control & assist to Matuszczyk; Ludo made it look easy. Lewandowski needs some mentoring from Ludo; what a disappointment he was most of the time. A couple times he couldn’t collect a pass as the ball bounced off him like he was stone. Robert needs to think and react faster, seems to lack creativity all alone on the breakaway; Howard went down so fast, he could have made a nice chip over, or simply made a move to the right or left. He let the defense’s shoving get to him; i wonder if the TV cameras caught him do his little ‘head butt’ think trying to intimidate the US right defender. He should have been paying attention for the next play. I’m being a harsh on Lewandowski, but he needs to be less self aware and more field aware. Kuba of course had a great game – wicked shot! He was so cool to see the fine possession game of Polska live and close. A lot of good passing in tight spaces, some great long passes and some amazing touch control on long passes. I thought Murawski had just a 2 bad passes, which I later felt he redeemed with some nice work and ball movement. Overall — an Awesome Experience!! O, when most the players were off and gone from the field. Ludo ran to the Polska fan side, just one section over from us, he through his jersey into the stands. One very lucky fan got that, and nearby fans, many still among the seats, gave him a big hand and cheer!
Posted from United States
‘head butt’ thing*
Don’t remember where but I’ve seen R. Lewy do this before — wish he would not confront the opposing D this way and just focus on beating them on the next play(s).
Posted from United States
It* was so cool to see the fine possession game…
(but yes, Kuba was so cool to see too!) sorry ’bout the typos.
Posted from United States
If Grosicki doesn’t start, I want him to get 45mins.
Majewski better start.
Would like to see Salamon subbed in another the 80minute to atleast see a pass or two from him.
Unfortunately, it looks like Majewski and Grosicki will be warming the bench today.
Posted from United States
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@Matt
Completely agree about Smolarek, hes like Podolski. Terrible while playing at clubs but great on the national team, we just need to play him!
@Timmy remember the Australia game when Smolarek was put in the last 15 minutes? He had more shots on goal in just 15 minutes then the strikers in the entire game. Hes a striker whos hungry to score, Im telling you if he played a full game he would score goals.
Posted from
United States