Oskar Kubiak, Bartosz Mazurek and Łukasz Poręba are new names on the 25-man Poland national soccer team roster announced Friday by head coach Jan Urban for the November Nations League matches away against Romania and at home against Sweden in Wrocław.
After four rounds in Group 4 of League B, Sweden leads with 10 points. Bosnia and Herzegovina is second with eight, and Poland is third with four. Romania, which has lost all four of its games, is last.
“After the draw, we said it was an evenly matched group, but we wanted to fight for promotion to League A. Sweden has enormous potential, though, so we were supposed to be fighting for second place with Bosnia and Romania,” Urban said on PZPN+, the Polish Football Association’s platform, where he discussed the roster for the November games.
In September and October, Poland drew 0-0 with Bosnia in Warsaw, lost 3-1 in Sweden, beat Romania 6-0 and lost the return match against the Balkan side 1-0 in Zenica.
“We didn’t deserve just one point against Bosnia. We wanted to and could have won more points. Bosnia had only four shots on target in two games. But we have only ourselves to blame for being in this situation. We have to win two games and hope that Bosnia drops five points. On paper, everything is possible, but we are no longer dependent only on ourselves,” the coach said.
In the Nations League, Urban is trying out new options. During the most recent camp, central midfielder Wiktor Nowak of Slavia Prague won a place in the starting lineup. Young players Kacper Potulski of FSV Mainz and Marcel Reguła of Zagłębie Lubin also got their chances.
“Debuts like these are a great thing. Nowak made the most of his chance. There are few friendlies. The Nations League should be used to change something and give new players a chance,” he said.
The new faces among the 25 players called up for the camp, which begins Monday in Warsaw, are Oskar Kubiak of Slavia Prague, Bartosz Mazurek of RB Salzburg and Łukasz Poręba of newly promoted German Bundesliga side SV Elversberg. All three received their first call-ups to the senior national team.
“We’re not writing off Bartek Slisz, Kuba Piotrowski or Bartosz Kapustka. But we want to check other options and take a look at players who are knocking on the national team’s door. Poręba plays regularly in a very demanding league,” the coach said.
The coach called up four forwards. He left out Ellis Simms of Coventry City, who recently received Polish citizenship. The 25-year-old has played for Coventry City since 2023. This season, he has played four Premier League games and scored one goal. However, he has spent only 149 minutes on the field in all competitions.
“We’ve been watching him for a long time. He could have been called up already. Getting citizenship is not enough. Lately he hasn’t been playing very often for his club. He is at our disposal, but he has to meet the sporting requirements,” Urban explained.
As expected, the coach went with Robert Lewandowski of Chicago Fire, Karol Świderski of Widzew Łódź, Adrian Benedyczak of Kasımpaşa, who was unable to join the previous camp because of an injury, and Mateusz Żukowski of Magdeburg.
“Benedyczak, like Żukowski, is very fast. Both are excellent at getting into open space behind the opponent’s defense. Adrian is doing well in Turkey, where he has scored six league goals,” he said.
“Karol Świderski is not a typical number nine. He’s a hard worker. Every coach respects such players. Lately he has been scoring goals in the Ekstraklasa. I trust him. He can play as a striker, an attacking midfielder or a winger,” Urban continued.
Lewandowski will join the national team camp for the second time since becoming a Chicago Fire player. He faces a long flight from the United States. In September, he struggled with jet lag, which hurt his form.
“Now he is wiser for that experience. The effect of the time zone change can be reduced. Robert wasn’t himself in the first game against Bosnia. We’ll see how he feels now,” Urban said.
Two experienced goalkeepers are absent — Marcin Bułka, who played in the first four Nations League matches, and Kamil Grabara, who is recovering from a serious injury — yet Łukasz Skorupski again was not called up. The coach chose three goalkeepers from the Polish league: Bartłomiej Drągowski of Widzew Łódź, Mateusz Kochalski of Wieczysta Kraków and Sławomir Abramowicz of Jagiellonia Białystok. Only the first of them has played for the national team.
“If I were thinking only in terms of ‘here and now,’ even a bit selfishly, the most experienced one would play, and that’s Skorupski. But at some point you have to make changes. We don’t have experience at this position, but we looked among those who were available. The situation is not simple, but it seems these call-ups are OK,” Urban explained, and he pointed out that the player from Italy’s Bologna has not been in the squad for a year.
Legia Warsaw defender Kamil Piątkowski returns to the national team after a long break, while Przemysław Wiśniewski of Widzew Łódź was not called up.
Bartosz Nowak of GKS Katowice once again did not get a chance, even though he has shown consistent, good form in the Ekstraklasa and scored a hat trick in his last match, against Widzew (3-2).
“I respect Bartek. He is doing great work. Even if I had called him up, he would have been a reserve. Kacper Urbański, for one, plays in his position, and he wants to make the most of his chance,” the coach explained.
In League B of the Nations League, Poland will play away against Romania on Nov. 14 and, three days later, will host Sweden in Wrocław. Jan Bednarek will miss the first match because of a yellow-card suspension. (PAP)
