By now, you would think the Polish national team would realize that each day they have together, they should make the best of it. A team that plays inconsistent and has so many problems so many times, one would think that a wake up call like the match against Northern Ireland would wake some players up? Apparently not. Like this article from gazeta.pl says, and I agree with, instead of going to South Africa to prepare for the next wave of qualifiers, the team went to site see.
A problem that’s been well known on the national team for some time, and a reason why I truly believe Leo Beenhakker was hired in the first place. The worst part of it all is, Leo didn’t send the “A-Squad”. He send a bunch of guys, right on the edge of either playing some type of role with this national team or staying home and watching the finals on television. Some of these guys are considered on the brink of making some kind of an impact with this squad or as replacements if in case of an injury. But, seriously, if there does happen to be injury woes, would we feel confident with a Slawomir Peszko has to play any kind of role on the national team, in a real match? The guy has quite frankly never showed up when called up and it’s pretty depressing considering he’s been one of the most entertaining players this past season for Lech Poznan. Apparently playing with a loaded squad does make him look better. Peszko showed the will to fight and did seem like he tried, but the results were nothing. He could never get any kind of attack going.
Speaking of failed attackers, I must say, I am starting to truly get worried about Roger Guerreiro. The EURO Cup hero and a guy who has played so very well for Poland when he first started getting call-ups. But now? When was the last time he played a good game for the White and Red? On top of my head, I can’t think of any. I think one reason why Leo brought Roger with this squad to South Africa, so he can play a weaker opponent and show his 
skills a bit, gain some confidence and be seen as a force in Poland’s starting XI once again. Epic fail. I thought, as did gazeta.pl, that Roger had a terrible game. Not sure if i’d go as far as gazeta.pl but they say it was between Roger and Jakub Wilk for worst players. Ouch! Not sure what his problem is, maybe he’s been with Legia Warsaw and played in the Polish league too long, and needs a change in life, go to a better league, with better players and better coaches? To develop more of a talent? Not sure, but what I do know is, if Roger doesn’t fix whatever it is that’s bothering him, he has to get off the national team.
I can’t blame much of this loss on Robert Lewandowski for not scoring. With such little support from the wings by his Lech teammates Peszko and Wilk, and Roger just walking around, Lewandowski was left out to dry. Leo tried to make substitutions but nothing worked. Rafal Murawski held his own in midfield, but, like the knock on him always has been, looks a bit weak, a bit soft. He’s just not a fighter and honestly I am not sure how many games it will take Leo to figure that out. Murawski is a good Ekstraklasa player, and not a good national team player. His game just does not translate against the rest of Europe and most of the world. I was expecting a very strong game from Muraw on Saturday, but what I got, is exactly what we always see. Nothing more. Nothing less. Disappointing to say the least.
So i do think this was a wasted trip. We learned nothing. Nobody fought like their jobs and dreams are on the line. Not sure that they are waiting for, probably for Ludovic Obraniak to come in and save the day for Poland with Kuba.
Poland play again in South Africa on Tuesday, June 9th against Iraq and their new coach Bora Militinovic. We’ll see how Leo’s guys stack up against Iraq. I’m not expecting much of a performance from our national team.
Here’s the goal from the match for those who have yet to see it. Sorry for the poor quality, it’s the best i found-
This only proves what I’ve been telling u for a while. A The Polish league is a joke. B Leo has very very little to work with and should be coach of the decade in Poland never mind fired. Every year Poland comes to America mostly with their B team and every year America wins or at best Poland tie. These American teams were mostly made up of MLS players. Look in 92 Olympics when Poland won the silver medal, not one of those players went on to big club teams, most of them went back to Poland and are selling insurance door to door now to make a living. Secondly Spain who won the Gold all of their players went on to better things. ALMOST SAME TALENT BUT AT TALENT was hornesed and look at the result now in Spain. Get out of Poland as quick as u can to develop in soccer esspecialy at the international level
Im starting to loose faith in Beenhakker.
msudzi – i can’t say i disagree with you. However, that Polish squad that came to Chicago a few years ago wasn’t exactly our B team. I mean, Boruc started and that was his 2nd game on the NT (first was only for 45min) and a lot of those players Janas called up he even admitted that he just wants to showcase them to see which 2-3 guys stand out for the future…. i think going to Chicago then, was for the same reasons as why Leo went to South Africa. Difference is, Janas found numerious players from that squad who made impact on Janas’ squad, besides Lewan, i don’t see any of the wildcards who went to South Africa making an impact. Jelen, Dudka, Mila, Boruc, Wlodarczyk all who played very well in Chicago, had call-ups for Janas and made an impact. Wlodarczyk and Mila it was short lived, but still.
Mila might still make a return lol and that’s actually quite scary if you think about it…