WHILE BAYERN MUNICH’S Robert Lewandowski will be known to the majority of Irish fans, there is no equivalent world-class star on the current Ireland team, who face Poland in an all-important Euro 2016 qualifier this Sunday.
The lack of top-class players in the Irish side is reflected by their upcoming opponents’ view of Martin O’Neill’s side, according to Polish journalist Maciej Kaliszuk, who writes for Futbol na Nie.
“The [Poland] coach and players aren’t overly complacent. They haven’t achieved anything yet,” Kaliszuk tells The42.
“They know that they’ll need to fight a lot. I spoke to [Maciej] Rybus, for example, our left midfielder, and he knows that Irish players are strong, and that they like long balls. It will be a very tough game, but they’re not afraid of them.”
However, while Polish players and fans are aware of Ireland’s collective strengths, they are not overly familiar with the individual players.
“To be honest, Irish players are not very well known in Poland. Even Robbie Keane is not the most popular figure,” he says.
“When I asked the Dynamo Kiev striker Lukasz Teodorczyk about them, he said that in the Irish team, there are players from Everton, and recently, he scored against them in the Europa League. He knows that there are Everton players on the right wing — Coleman and McGeady. So he said that he would like, once again, to score against them.
“They speak about Ireland as a team, but they don’t say much about particular players, because they are a team with no stars.”
One of the big talking points ahead of Sunday’s game, from a Polish perspective, has been the absence of Jakub Blaszczykowski from the squad.
Blaszczykowski is extremely well thought of in Polish footballing circles. He was a key figure in Borussia Dortmund’s march to the Champions League final the season before last, prompting him to be linked with clubs such as Juventus and Man City, before ultimately committing his future to the Bundesliga outfit.
However, the 29-year-old — who has 68 caps for his country and is not the only important Polish player who is unavailable to face Ireland — has had a nightmare with injuries in recent times.
Nevertheless, the team have still thrived in Blaszczykowski’s absence, beating Germany for the first time in 19 attempts last October, which has led coach Adam Nawalka to renege on his previous promise to re-appoint the player as captain upon his return from injury.
The decision consequently appears to have caused friction between the Dortmund star and his manager, and while he has returned to action at club level, he tellingly won’t travel with the Polish squad to Dublin for this weekend’s crunch fixture.
“The main problem is that Blaszczykowski didn’t want to accept the new situation with Lewandowski as captain,” Kaliszuk explains.
“Lewandowski and Blaszczykowski are Poland’s two biggest stars but they don’t like each other, even though they played together for four years at Borussia Dortmund. Blaszczykowski used to be the captain, but when he got an injury, Lewandwoski replaced him as captain.
“As a result, Blaszczykowski was very angry — he didn’t pick up the phone when the coach tried to call him. So Nawalka was worried that he would destroy the good atmosphere in the team [by calling Blaszczykowski up]. He wants to create a group of players who understand each other well and get on well. So he was afraid that Blaszczykowski would destroy everything he built.
“He said that after the Ireland game, he would go to Dortmund to speak with Blaszczykowski. He wants him in the team — just not as the leader of the team. But if Blaszczykowski still doesn’t agree with the new situation, he won’t play in the next game.
“This has been the main problem of the national team and the players, in the press conference, didn’t want to speak about it, but in the press conference with Nawalka, most questions concerned this situation.”
(There is no love lost between Blaszczykowski and Lewandowski)
And while Blaszczykowski’s absence means that Lewandowski will comfortably be the best player to take to the field on Sunday, his form for the national team has been far from perfect. The acclaimed striker has managed a decent but hardly spectacular 23 goals in 66 appearances since making his debut.
Over the course of this campaign, his 20 goals this season have included four against Gibraltar, but the big striker has yet to score against any of the other teams in the group. Hence, critics have reiterated the suggestion that he rarely scores against the top sides on the international stage.
“He’s the most important player on the team, only he doesn’t score. That’s his problem,” Kaliszuk says. “If you compare his stats from the Bundesliga to the national team, you can see that there is a huge difference. And it’s not just this year or last year — since his debut for the national team, he has scored mainly against minor teams. He’s only scored a few important goals in competitive games.
“But in this qualifying round, he’s been playing better. He’s always been a fighter. Now, he plays for the team. He plays important passes and sets up goals — as he did against Georgia.
“He scored a few goals against San Marino and some malicious people in Poland say that San Marino are his ‘favourite opponents’.
“But players from other teams know they must concentrate on Lewandowski, so other Poland players have more space on the field, so it’s better for them to play with him.”
However, the emergence of 21-year-old striker Arkadiusz Milik, who has 16 goals in 27 appearances for Ajax this season, has eased the pressure on Lewandowski, while the Bayern Munich man offers more than pure goalscoring.
“He’s also an important figure in the dressing room. Since he became captain, people say he’s now more responsible for the team, and this armband has given him additional powers. He’s also a more mature player — he turned 26 last August. So he’s definitely the most important player in the team, and this is maybe why Nawalka is willing to sacrifice Blaszczykowski.
“Before, Blaszczykowski was the best player in the Polish national team. Lewandowski was generally the best player, but for the national team, Blaszczykowski was even more important. But since Blaszczykowski got injured, things have changed, and Lewandowski has become the leader of the team, who are playing really well.”
Another issue for Poland is the form of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. While the 24-year-old was in excellent form for his country in their recent 2-0 win over Germany, sub-par performances at club level mean he has not played a league game for Arsenal since New Year’s Day.
And Kaliszuk believes Nawalka is likely to choose either Bournemouth’s Artur Boruc or Swansea’s Lukasz Fabianski ahead of Szczesny in goal on Sunday.
“We have two other goalkeepers playing well and one of them will be chosen. We almost know the most likely line-up, but we don’t know who will be number one goalkeeper, and I think maybe even Nawalka doesn’t know. But after training tomorrow, he will tell his players who will be first-choice goalkeeper.
“It will probably be Boruc. He doesn’t play in the Premier League and he is a bit crazy — in the past, there were some problems with his behaviour in the national team. But since Nawałka became the coach, Boruc has not been involved in any scandals. So Boruc is most likely to start against Ireland.”
And finally, does Kaliszuk have a prediction for Sunday’s clash?
“Poland would not cry if they draw, but I doubt that they will play defensively.”
