Poland national team's coach Jerzy Brzęczek has called up 27 players for the UEFA Nations League game against Italy and a friendly against Ireland (7 and 11 September). Two players from this year's World Cup squad. Kamil Grosicki and Michał Pazdan have been left out. Mateusz Klich, Arkadiusz Reca, Adam Dźwigała, Rafał Pietrzak and Damian Szymański will get a chance to win their place in the team.
Fourteen of this year's World Cup paricipants made it to the team. Among those missing is winger Kamil Grosicki who is struggling to win some time on the pitch in Hull City, full-backs Michał Pazdan and Thiago Cionek from Legia Warszawa and SPAL Ferrara respectively, as well as striker Łukasz Teodorczyk who recently joined Udinese.
Among the new players there are Arkadiusz Reca, Adam Dźwigała, Rafał Pietrzak and Damian Szymański, as well as Krzysztof Piątek who already was shortlisted by Adam Nawałka. Leeds United's Mateusz Klich is returning to the national team after a longer hiatus.
UEFA Nations League is a new tournament aimed at replacing friendly international games and to make them more attractive. Poland was placed in the 3rd group of the A division (so-called group A3), together with Italy and Portugal.
Jerzy Brzęczek replaced Adam Nawałka as Poland's coach after a disappointing performance of the team at the World Cup in Russia.
Players called up for the games against Italy and Ireland:
Goalkeepers: Łukasz Fabiański (West Ham United), Łukasz Skorupski (Bologna FC), Wojciech Szczęsny (Juventus Turyn).
Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Southampton), Bartosz Bereszyński (Sampdoria Genua), Adam Dźwigała (Wisła Płock), Kamil Glik (AS Monaco), Marcin Kamiński (Fortuna Duesseldorf), Tomasz Kędziora (Dynamo Kijów), Rafał Pietrzak (Wisła Kraków), Arkadiusz Reca (Atalanta Bergamo), Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiw Moskwa).
Midfielders: Jakub Błaszczykowski (VfL Wolfsburg), Przemysław Frankowski (Jagiellonia Białystok), Jacek Góralski (Łudogorec Razgrad), Damian Kądzior (Dinamo Zagrzeb), Mateusz Klich (Leeds United), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Lokomotiw Moskwa), Rafał Kurzawa (Amiens SC), Karol Linetty (Sampdoria Genua), Maciej Makuszewski (Lech Poznań), Taras Romanczuk (Jagiellonia Białystok), Damian Szymański (Wisła Płock), Piotr Zieliński (SSC Napoli).
Forwards: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Monachium), Arkadiusz Milik (SSC Napoli), Krzysztof Piątek (Genoa CFC).
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Maciej Gillert/PAP/EPA