At the same time, everything was in play for the Poles before the opening whistle. After Thursday’s results, optimism reigned in the country, at least as far as football is concerned. It was enough to beat Moldova and the mutual duel with the Czech Republic, which is the last qualifier for our northern neighbor, would pay for a direct fight for the second, promotion rung of Group E.
But the Poles did not get the obligatory victory against the 159th best team in the world (according to the FIFA rankings). On the contrary, in front of their own fans, after half an hour of the game, they lost with a goal by Ion Nicolaescu, a Heerenveen striker who previously also worked in Slovakia’s Dunajská Streda. He managed to score only five goals in thirty-nine games there…
According to Probierz, the bad start was the main stumbling block. “In the beginning, we were really scared. You could feel that we were afraid and we were getting rid of the ball very easily,” he shook his head at the performance of his charges. “How could you be afraid of a team that is so low in the FIFA rankings?” replied one of the journalists present.
FULL TIME WHISTLE
It finishes all square in Warsaw.
After a weak first half that ended promisingly, Swiderski’s goal gave Poland hope in the second half. Unfortunately, they could not keep up that same intensity to find a second goal, despite plenty of opportunities to do so.… pic.twitter.com/oXNi5nkk4i
— PSN Football (@PSN_Football) October 15, 2023
“I understand your disappointment, but I can’t perform miracles. It’s difficult for me to change everything in a week in office so that we give the opponent a nightmare. If the team worked well, the coach wouldn’t change at all,” defended the coach, whose debut on the bench of the Polish national team was Thursday’s mandatory win over the Faroe Islands (2:0). “In football you have to survive these difficult moments and keep working hard,” he continued.
Since the Poles need to not only beat the Czech Republic at home to maintain their hopes of direct promotion, but also hope that Moldova does not win at least four points from the remaining qualifying duels (with Albania and the Czech Republic), Probierz et al. came under fire from critics. “A picture of misery and despair. The blackest scenario has come true,” writes the website sport.pl, for example.
“I think that progress can be seen. We played the last two matches better than the previous ones,” Karol Świderski, the scorer of Poland’s only goal, compared the team’s recent performances with those still under the leadership of the Portuguese Fernando Santos. “We had enough chances to grab the victory. Now we just have to do everything to beat the Czechs. Then we’ll see what it will be enough for,” said the 26-year-old forward.
“The coach showed us trust and we want to repay him. We want to go to the championship and I believe we will succeed,” hopes midfielder Piotr Zieliński, who put on the captain’s armband in Robert Lewandowski’s absence. But as the (not only) Polish media admit, direct progress to the EURO is rather in the category of utopian scenarios.
“We have to accept that our only hope is the play-off. It is necessary to learn and move on,” former great midfielder Zbigniew Boniek wrote on the social network X, practically ruling out the scenario of direct promotion. In any case, Poland’s performance in the last year of the League of Nations (3rd place in Group 4 of League A) gives at least hope of saving the botched qualification in the play-off. On which the Polish selection will most likely have to focus…
2023-10-16 20:57:27
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