Urban: “Squad Situation Is Good.” Results Are Another Matter

Poland national soccer team coach Jan Urban assured reporters ahead of the Nations League matches against Romania and Sweden that, with the exception of Jan Bednarek, who will join the squad shortly, all players are healthy. He added that the difficult situation in the group stems primarily from the poor matches against Bosnia.

Poland will face Romania away on Nov. 14 and three days later will host Sweden in Wrocław.

Bednarek, 30, left the pitch Sunday evening after being hit in the head by the ball in a match between his club, FC Porto, and Vitória Guimarães. The next day he underwent tests at the club, which showed no injury that would prevent him from playing for the national team in the near future. As it happens, he would not have played in Bucharest anyway, because he must sit out a suspension for yellow cards.

Urban’s players held their first training session in Warsaw at midday Tuesday. The head coach assured reporters that the squad situation is good.

“Janek Bednarek isn’t with us yet; he was undergoing tests. I think he has a minor head injury, but it’s hard for me to say exactly because I don’t know the specifics of the situation. But he will definitely be with us. All the other players are healthy and at my disposal,” Urban stressed at an afternoon press conference.

With two rounds left in Group B4, Poland is only in third place with four points. Sweden leads with 10 points, ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina with 8. Romania remains without a point.

“It’s primarily because of the matches against Bosnia (a 0-0 draw at home and a 1-0 loss away – PAP) that we are in the situation we’re in. We couldn’t have imagined that we would pick up points like that against this opponent. We would be in a completely different position in the group today. We regret that, because we should have more points,” the coach admitted.

The only successful moment of Poland’s Nations League campaign so far was the match against Romania in Warsaw. Poland won 6-0 on Oct. 2, but the opponents played most of the match with ten men.

“That was the result of our being able to take advantage of having an extra player. There’s no doubt about that. Because the very beginning of the match, when the opponents had a full side, was even. The visitors took several shots and launched dangerous counterattacks. That said, you have to know how to exploit a numerical advantage. We did that. A 6-0 result, even in such circumstances, happens very rarely,” the 64-year-old coach recalled.

“I’m prepared now for a completely different match. We’ve watched the Romanians’ subsequent games. For example, they played really well against Sweden. We don’t expect an easy time in Bucharest,” he added.

Marcin Bułka, the first-choice goalkeeper in the Nations League, will not play in the upcoming matches because of an injury, which was already known earlier. Kamil Grabara has long been recovering from a serious knee injury. So who will take the spot between the posts?

“The decision has not been made yet. We have to choose. Will the same goalkeeper play in both of the next two matches? We haven’t decided that yet either; we will talk about it,” Urban said.

As usual, there were questions about the lack of a call-up for Bartosz Nowak of GKS Katowice, who has been standing out in Poland’s top league, the Ekstraklasa.

“I see the topic isn’t going away… I’ve said many times that I value Bartosz very much. He is doing a great job at his club. But we are going in a slightly different direction. A national team debutant at 33, with European Championship qualifiers in view? Besides, even if he were called up, Bartek wouldn’t be a starter. There is no conflict between us, and I’m not doing this out of spite toward anyone. We simply want to give younger players a chance in that position. There are no hidden meanings here,” the coach explained.

At the press conference he also addressed the tragic events in Kraków, where an attacker killed six people on Saturday.

“I live in Kraków and I could have been at the Main Square too, because I’m there quite often. It could have happened to anyone. From what I know, one of my assistants was supposed to be at the square at that time. His friend didn’t come, and that’s why he ultimately wasn’t there. We can only offer our condolences to the victims’ families and wish a speedy recovery to all those who were injured,” Urban said.

“It’s hard to accept such a situation. It seems to me that we Poles took great pride in being a very safe country. We were practically proud of it. But, unfortunately, such things happen. Let’s hope never again,” he added. (PAP)