Robert Lewandowski scored mid-way through the first half to give Poland a 1-0 lead. Despite having their backs against the wall most of the half, it wasn't until the 42nd minute til Belgium tied the match 1-1 after a defensive error by Sebastian Szymanski easily losing a rebound to Axel Witsel who put past a diving Bartek Dragowski.
Even then, despite signs of brilliance throughout that half by Kevin de Bruyne that signaled that he and his teammates were not going to be stopped on this evening. Poland went into half-time tied 1-1, and with a few adjustments and locking down a bit more defensively, the moral surrounding the team was high with the thought that this team might actually go into Belgium and steal crucial Nations League points from one of the best teams in the world.
At half-time, Czeslaw Michniewicz took out Tymek Puchacz and Grzegorz Krychowiak and inserted Bartosz Bereszynski and Damian Szymanski. Easy to nitpick decisions after the fact when trying to find where the core of the problem came from, and taking Krychowiak off left a big defensive void in central midfield as the AEK Athens midfielder Szymanski was overwhelmed by the Belgian Red Devils. However, the signs of leaked defense were apparent from the very start. Just in the fourth minute, de Bruyne fed Michy Batshuayi for a grade A chance which hit the post and Eden Hazard's poor form shot the rebound just wide. Dragowski kept busy the entire half keeping the Belgians at bay. Belgian was the better team in the first 45, and were very unfortunate not to have had this game won yet having a 63% possession.
The defense and Dragowski clearly got over worked with nonstop defending and got tired out in the first half chasing and rushing to block passing lanes and closing down space in the attacking zone. Looking back on it, have to wonder what Michniewicz thought by bringing on Beres and Szymanski, and if he truly thought they were the answer to locking down the Belgians?
De Bruyne made it 2-1 fourteen minutes into the second half and Michniewicz countered by bringing on Matty Cash, the Aston Villa wing-back who recently joined the NT camp as he was excused from earlier training to attend his brothers wedding over the weekend, and the team also took Lewandowski off for newly signed RC Lens striker Adam Buksa. Maybe Michniewicz figured Cash will not only bring speed to the attack but also provide a buffer defensively, but it was only moments after he entered the field that Yannick Carrasco made him look foolish with a fake out that surely will be a viral meme on the internet for days to come. Leandro Trossard scored the Belgian third and it seemed like Poland was ready to wave the white flag and just give up. With a 3-1 lead, Poland just had no answers, the match was over. By this point, it seemed like a minor miracle that Poland wasn't down by more. Trossard scored the fourth goal, followed by Leander Dendoncker and in the final moments 22-year old Lois Openda finished the evening off with the Red Devils' sixth goal.
It's Michniewicz's fourth game as Polish coach after Paolo Sousa quit on Christmas Eve. Poland won twice and drew once in his previous three matches. Tonight, his first loss and one that has send shockwaves to the federation about the state of the team. The honeymoon period, so to say, is over. It's a match that can humble a team, a wake up call of sorts that will demand the team get back to work and figure out what went wrong. It's not time to sound the alarms yet, luckily for this team, they won't need to play Belgium in the world cup until the semi-final at the earliest, but the reality is, what awaits this team is a match-up against the Dutch, who beat these Belgians 4-1 last week and beat Wales 2-1 earlier today, in Rotterdam and a re-match vs Belgium next week.
The team must start looking like a serious world cup team and soon. The sooner the better. No more experimental squads, today's squad featured many newer and fresh faces. Robert Gumny (24 years old), Puchacz (23), S Szymanski (23), Jakub Kaminski (20) and Szymon Zurkowski (24) who have a combined 30 NT caps between them. Puchacz and Szymanski combine for 21 of those. Twenty-four year old Dragowski only made his third NT appearance in net, as he aims to win the teams backup role. The amount of newer players was just too easy for Belgium to get through. They lacked confidence and direction. Too many players just not ready for that stage on the pitch at the same time. Team tried to go into the match and play Belgium at their game, offense against offense, but after being taught a lesson by Belgium, Poland needs to prepare going forward with more realistic tactics, play more sound defensive formations, slow play down, and begin their tour to prepare for the world cup.
Netherlands on Saturday won't be any easier of a task and very little time to analyze what exactly went wrong in Brussels, but a similar outcome vs. the Dutch could really derail the teams moral and things could get very ugly in a hurray in Michniewicz's camp.
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