We’ve Got A Problem With Matusiak.

More than two weeks ago I wrote an article about Radoslaw Matusiak’s first goal for Wisla. Little did I know that it’ll probably be the only goal that he scores for Wisla at all. Matusiak can’t get a proper game for the Polish champions and to make matters worse he was accused of faking an injury.

Matusiak’s situation is going from bad to worse. Only a year and a half ago he joined Palermo and his future looked bright. Polish fans were hoping that they’ll finally have a competent striker to cheer in one of the world’s toughest leagues. Unfortunately, Serie A proved to big a challenge for Radomatu and after scoring only one goal he was sold to SC Heerenveen for 3M. This time I was sure he would flourish abroad. Heerenveen is a great place for strikers (Tomasson, van Nistelrooy, Allback, Huntelaar, Samaras and Alfonso Alves all played there); the team regularly scores 3-4 goals in a game. Moreover, Matusiak received a positive recommendation from Leo Beenhakker, a respected figure in Holland. All this proved not enough to play and score regularly in the Eredivisie; now Miralem Sulejmani and Michael Bradley are the next big things in Heerenveen. To rescue his chances of going to the Euros Radomatu decided to return to Poland. First, he wanted to play in his former club Belchatow but after some serious misunderstandings with the board he opted for a loan deal at Wisla. Everything looked great once again, Matusiak was to form a deadly striking partnership with Pawel Brozek and regain his confidence before the trip to Swissaustria.

It all went well for Wisla, which won the Polish league title, but not so well for Matusiak who was usually a substitute and scored only one league goal. He lost his place in the squad to Rafal Boguski, a player who only a year and a half ago was his backup in Belchatow. Now it’s Matusiak that has to watch Boguski impressing on the field. What’s even worse, both Wisla and Matusiak decided that they’re not going to extend the loan deal. Radek doesn’t want to be loaned out once more as he’d like to fight for a place in Heerenveen’s squad under a new management. Wisla just can’t afford to pay 2M for a bench warmer. As a result, it is Andrzej Niedzielan (former NEC Nijmegen player) ,who’s just returned from an injury, that is going to fill Matusiak’s place in the team. Radomatu didn’t take part in the last league game against Legia and it was enough for the journalists to suggest that he faked an injury to gain freshness before the Euros. It just shows how much controversy his presence in the Polish Euro squad bring up. Fortunately, the accusations were refuted by both Wisla coach Maciej Skorza (he said in the TV league magazine that Matusiak was really injured) and the player himself. However, it seems obvious that Matusiak will now be attacked by the press on everyday basis, just like Mila, Rasiak or Jop were before the last World Cup.

It is almost just as obvious that Leo will include Matusiak in the final Euro squad. Today we learnt that 26 players will be taken for the final training camp before the Euros instead of 25 announced earlier, one extra for each formation. It seems to me that Leo wants to check Matusiak’s form first handedly and only then decide about his participation in the Euros. To be honest, I find it hard to judge this whole situation. On the one hand, Radomatu did well in the qualifying campaign, on the other hand, his current form doesn’t enable him to be included in the final Euro squad. We’ll be wiser next week when Leo reduces our Euro squad to 26 names. We must trust Don Leo on this one, hopefully his judgement will be better than Janas’ last time.

What’s your opinion, should he be taken? And one more thing, I’m going away for a long weekend (Polish May tradition) so I won’t be able to publish anything till monday (I just hope that there won’t be any breakthrough info in the next couple of days).