Can the Polish national team afford to win against a truly classy rival? This is one of the main questions before our team's October matches, although we should basically add “for points” here. Because in June 2023, we defeated the Germans 1-0, but such matches also have their own specificity. To find a Polish triumph against a top-tier opponent, you probably have to go back exactly 10 years, to a memorable 2-0 victory also against Germany. Of course, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Japan are high-class teams. But not as big as our October rivals or, for example, France or the Netherlands at Euro 2024.
Juskowiak is full of fears about Portugal and Croatia
The clashes with Portugal and Croatia should give us a solid indication of whether we are making progress and hopefully it will be more favorable than the first clash with the Croatians in the Nations League. There we lost only 0-1 after a beautiful goal by Luka Modric, but there are no illusions. If the rivals had aimed better and Łukasz Skorupski had defended slightly weaker, the score in Osijek would have been much higher than 0:1.
Andrzej Juskowiak is definitely not optimistic about the rematch with the Balkan team, as well as the clash with Portugal. Former striker of our national team and, among others, Sporting Lisbon or Wolfsburg, in an interview with TVP Sport, he clearly stated that there are still many disagreements in this team, and Michał Probierz has not changed much in this matter so far.
– We have had a problem with scoring goals after actions for a long time and unfortunately this is not changing. The problems are especially visible in meetings with top-class rivals. This is something that Michał Probierz failed to solve. There is still no repeatability. In addition, the situation of our players in clubs. It's hard to blame the coach for appointing Nicola Zalewski. He defends himself with his attitude in the frame. The question is, however, whether this state of affairs will last long if he cannot count on playing regularly in Roma, Juskowiak said.
The famous match against the Netherlands not so good? Juskowiak without a doubt
The former representative strongly advised players having problems to change clubs, because he does not believe “that a player will feel 100% satisfaction with his appointment if he does not play for the club.” He also pointed out what we miss and reminded that the Euro match against the Netherlands was not good at all.
– Too few players who could afford to carry out individual actions. We need more players like Zalewski. I was far from satisfied after the white and red team's performance at the European Championships. The Netherlands, like France, did not impress with their playing style throughout the tournament, and we did not look good compared to them. I still miss a good match against a strong rival – said Juskowiak.
– However, I hope that against Portugal there will be a breakthrough performance for the white and red team. I think that we would be happy to even draw with such a class rival if our team plays a good match. However, after receiving the ball, we must be deadly effective. This could be our weapon, said the former attacker.