Champions on the bench

On paper it would look like Poland's defense might be the strength of the team. Jan Bednarek and Matty Cash regulars in the Premier League, Robert Gumny a regular for Augsburg in Germany, Kamil Glik a reliable veteran who had a glorious career in Seria A and Ligue 1 and always is a impact player for the national team, and two, soon-to-be league champions in Jakub Kiwior with Arsenal and Bartosz Bereszynski with Napoli. 

Except, the games arent played on paper. Glik is 35 and past his best. Bednarek also has seen his form drop in the past year and Kiwior and Bereszynski, play on clubs who have much better options ahead of them and are there for depth purposes. 

Since moving to Napoli in January 7th, Bereszynski has only played in one match. He started and played the entire 120 minutes of a Coppa Italia against Cremonese, in a match Napoli lost to the last placed team in Seria A. It's been eleven matches since that match and Beres has yet to leave the bench. 

Napoli have a 19-point lead on second-place Lazio with just eleven matches left. And they are still in the Champions League. Napoli drew AC Milan in the next round. With a couple more wins it's entirety possible Napoli will shift focus from running away with the league to trying to accomplish the double, and putting more effort on Europe. That could lead to some minutes down the stretch for Bereszynski which would be possible for Polish coach Fernando Santos who is still in the look-out for a left back. 

Kiwior is in a tougher spot. He's been at Arsenal for 12 matches and has only appeared twice. For a total of 75 minutes. He started against Sporting CP in the Europa league and played 70 minutes in his Arsenal debut. He leaked out information he was starting to Polish media and Mikel Arteta suspended him the next match.  

Arsenal's lead is only 8 points on second-placed Manchester City, with City having one extra match to play and the two teams still play each other. If City wins the match in hand and wins against Arsenal, the lead will be down to 2 points with 9-matches left. Arsenal are also out of any other competition. Barring any injuries, Arsenal most likely will continue to play who they've played all season, leaving Kiwior on the bench.

Even if Kiwior gets a few minutes, it might not be enough to warrant a call-up in June, and most definitely not a starting gig back on the national team. 

Both players will be champions in 2023. Just hope they can take notes from afar sitting and watching from the bench. Winning is contagious. Poland has to be hoping both of these players get motivated with winning and next time want to do it with them on the field.