POLES ON COURSE AS
BRZECZEK FINDS HIS
FEET
P
oland made a winning start to
their campaign, bagging four
straight victories – over Austria,
Latvia, North Macedonia and
Israel – without conceding a goal before
a series of setbacks in September, when
they lost in Slovenia and were held 0-0
in Warsaw by Austria.
New Poland coach Jerzy Brzeczek
had been slow to find his feet after losing
Nations League games to Portugal and
Italy last year. The 1-0 victory in Vienna,
thanks to substitute Krzyzstof Piatek’s
second international goal 10 minutes
from time, was Brzeczek’s first win in
seven attempts since taking over after
the 2018 World Cup.
Brzeczek has kept faith with most of
the old guard, led by captain Robert
Lewandowski, while new boys
introduced have included striker
Piatek and defender Jan Bednarek.
“Maybe it was the right moment^
for a cold shower,” said Brzeczek after
the defeat in Ljubljana.
“We have seen that we still have
a long and difficult journey to go to
the European Championship.”
The draw with Austria cut Poland’s
lead at the top of Group G to two points,
ahead of Slovenia, as Lewandowski,
making a record 108th appearance for
his country, blew the best chance of the
game in a one-on-one with goalkeeper
Cican Stankovic.
His caps record was then equalled by
midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski, who
appeared as a second-half substitute.
Slovenia are thriving under coach
Matjaz Kek, in his second spell in charge.
After a slow start, when they drew 1-1
with both Israel and North Macedonia
before losing 1-0 away to Austria, they
then won three on the trot – with a
5-0 thrashing of Latvia, a 2-0 win
over Poland and a thrilling 3-2 triumph
over Israel, when Dynamo Kiev midfielder
Benjamin Verbic’s last-minute header
secured the victory that took his team
into second place.
The win over Poland has been
Slovenia’s most impressive performance.STAR MAN
KRZYSZTOF PIATEK
Poland
Unusually for a major tournament
qualifying campaign, Robert Lewandowski
is not leading Poland’s goalscoring
charge. This time around the honours
board is currently controlled by fellow
front-runner Piatek, the Milan striker
with an uncanny knack of netting vital
goals to order.
The 24-year-old came off the bench
to score the winner in away victories inKek’s side played bravely in a sold-out
Stozice stadium and were rewarded 10
minutes before the break when Aljaz
Struna broke the deadlock. The hosts
doubled their lead in the 65th minute
when Andraz Sporar was put throughby Atalanta’s Josip Ilicic.
Austria recovered from losing to
Poland and Israel by winning three in a
row, including a 6-0 thrashing of Latvia
in Salzburg, before holding Poland to a
goalless stalemate.
Israel began well, drawing at home to
Slovenia and then beating Austria 4-2
and Latvia 3-0, but have since dropped
points to Slovenia and Poland. They
remain in contention for a qualifying
place but have been heavily reliant on
the goals of China-based attacker Eran
Zahavi, who tops the Europe-wide
scorers’ list, with nine goals from six
games, including hat-tricks against
Austria and Latvia.
Latvia, whose Serbian coach Slavisa
Stojanovic took over in March, have
suffered six successive defeats,
conceding 21 goals in the process.EURO 2020 | Qualifiers
GROUP
G“We have seen that we still have a
long and difficult journey to go to
the European Championship”
Poland coach Jerzy Brzeczek
Close...Latvia keeper
Pavels Steinbors
denies Marko
Arnautovic of AustriaNew boy...Poland’s
Jan Bednarek (in red)