Poland’s perfect international break topped off with topping Nations League group after Matchday Four

Poland finished their international break on a very positive note with wins against Finland and Bosnia & Herzegovina and a vital draw against Italy.

We’ll look in-depth on all their performances from the friendly against Finland to the latest game in the Nations League against Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Friendly v Finland 7th October 2020

Poland manager Jerzy Brzeczek gave some well-earned starts to the likes of Bartlomiej Dragowski, Sebastian Walukiewicz, Michał Karbownik and Jakub Moder. The experience came from Kamil Grosicki, Krzysztof Piatek and Arkadiusz Milik.

In the ninth minute of the game, Grosicki released a strike from 20-yards which beat Jesse Joronen in the Finnish goal and opened the scoring for the white and reds.

Less than ten minutes later, Grosicki would make it 2-0 after he found the ball under his feet in the penalty area and gave Joronen no chance by blasting the ball into the back of the net from close range.

Grosicki completed his hat-trick in the 38th minute and deservedly landed all the headlines for his efforts.

The referee blew his whistle for half time with Poland in a commanding lead going into the break. Brzeczek decided to give some more debuts as Paweł Bochniewicz and Alan Czerwinski represented their home country for the first time.

Piatek found the net in the 53rd minute to get his needed goal for the country to make it 4-0. Ilmari Niskanen got a consolation goal for the Finn’s in the 68th minute, but Milik had the last say in the 87th minute as his goal capped off a five-star performance from Poland.

UEFA Nations League v Italy- Sunday 11th October 2020

Poland were back in the UEFA Nations League in their next international game against the mighty force of the Italians who had superstars like Gianluigi Donnarumma, Andrea Belotti, Federico Chiesa, Marco Verratti starting the game.

Robert Lewandowski was back in Brzeczek’s side for the first time since Poland’s win against Slovenia in their last UEFA European Championship Qualifier back in November 2019 where the striker netted in a 3-2 win.

The Italians dominated the game from start to finish. Chiesa dragged his shot wide in 11th minute, Lukasz Fabianski saved Belotti’s shot in the 23rd minute and the Pole’s best chance came when Kamil Jozwiak’s shot was saved by Donnarumma.

Karol Linetty had the best chance of the game when his shot was saved by a diving Donnarumma, but apart from that nothing happened in a bore 0-0 draw between the two teams.

It looked like a game certain to go in one direction as Italy had 16 shots and 61% possession in the game, but Poland dug deep and the defensive unit did not give up earning them a well-earned draw.

UEFA Nations League v Bosnia & Herzegovina- Wednesday 14th October 2020

Their last game in this international break came against Bosnia & Herzegovina with Poland knowing a win would present a step closer to the UEFA Nations League Finals.

A very strong side was put out against the Bosnians as Lewandowski made another start and Grosicki, Mateusz Klich, Kamil Jozwiak, Karol Linetty and Wojciech Szczesny all featured in the starting 11 for Poland. Bosnia sent out the experienced trio of Edin Višća, Edin Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic to cause trouble to the Polish defence.

Pjanic posed an early threat as his long-range shot swerved but was claimed easily by Szczesny in the second minute of the game. From that point on, it would go downhill for Bosnia. Anel Ahmedhodžić got sent off in the 14th minute which meant that they had to hold on for the rest of the game with ten men.

Lewandowski was close to opening the scoring on two occasions before the half-hour mark. Poland’s captain skied a virtual tap-in after Jacek Goralski’s cross in the 22nd minute and eight minutes later hit the post from outside of the box.

He would open the scoring in the 40th minute after Jozwiak looked to shoot the on running Lewandowski snatched the ball from the winger and blasted the ball into the net and past Ibrahim Šehić.

Linetty doubled Poland’s lead on the stroke of half-time. Lovely build-up play led Lewandowski to chip a delightful ball towards Linetty as the midfielder’s header flew past Sehic for 2-0.

Poland’s captain scored his second of the game after a Klich assist which completed a fantastic evening for Poland.

As it stands, Poland are top of UEFA Nations League Group A1 on seven points, a point ahead of Italy and two points ahead of Netherlands. Poland’s last two Nations League games are against the two teams previously mentioned in November.

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