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Match 9: Poland vs Slovakia - 5pm (BST) ITV1 live from St Petersberg


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1 minute ago, skybluedave said:

Poland gonna get a reputation at this rate. Always qualify. Always rubbish

They used to never qualify yet they were more than decent :D 

Euro 2008 was their first go and they sucked. They also sucked at home in 2012. Reached quarters in 2016 and lost in PKs to Portugal, wouldn't call that rubbish, although they merely got past the Swiss via PKs themselves.

Given the setup, it's likely that they can get through with just a win. Could happen. Not a big fan of their Euro team even though I generally like them. They're doing as you'd expect from a mid-tier NT, typically bad and not much expected of them, but once in a blue moon may produce a great run. Tier where you find Greece, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Switzerland etc.

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5 minutes ago, The Amazing Dale Watkins said:

Meanwhile, Gikiewicz never ever got a call-up despite being spectacular in the Bundesliga.

There's also Majecki that I heard nice things about. And there's the other kid Bulka coming up. I'm telling you, they do produce a lot of great GKs and most people aren't much aware of them usually as only 1-2 may feature in the NT. 

 

I just checked and Dragowski only has 1 cap, Skorupski has 4... I get that you pick the guy winning the leagues, playing in the CL, but you're Poland, not France or Germany. Pick the guy who gets 15 shots at him, not the guy who's shielded behind a top defense and gets 2-3 shots against him!

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Is this really as big a shock as ITV are making out? I mean, I thought Poland would win but I was much more surprised about Finland beating Denmark (although that was exceptional circumstances of course)

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15 minutes ago, The Golden boy said:

Might have been the case had they not been quarter finalists last time going out to the eventual winners on penalties.

I'm just thinking about last WC and now this really when I said that.

I think you see Lewa and expect more from them but only so much he can do

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Just now, Pukey said:

Is this really as big a shock as ITV are making out? I mean, I thought Poland would win but I was much more surprised about Finland beating Denmark (although that was exceptional circumstances of course)

Nah, it's the Lewandowski factor. They're the only player they genuinely know from the two sides so they assume his team should have won. 

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2 minutes ago, Yuko said:

They used to never qualify yet they were more than decent :D 

Euro 2008 was their first go and they sucked. They also sucked at home in 2012. Reached quarters in 2016 and lost in PKs to Portugal, wouldn't call that rubbish, although they merely got past the Swiss via PKs themselves.

Given the setup, it's likely that they can get through with just a win. Could happen. Not a big fan of their Euro team even though I generally like them. They're doing as you'd expect from a mid-tier NT, typically bad and not much expected of them, but once in a blue moon may produce a great run. Tier where you find Greece, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Switzerland etc.

 

Put the 2002, 2006 and 2018 World Cups to that list. The Euro 216 was a very good tournament for Poland, unfortunalty it seem as it was this only time they actually could play so well.

 

Probably you should take Bulgaria off that list - tehy haven't qualified for anything since 2004 :D 

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1 minute ago, Pukey said:

Is this really as big a shock as ITV are making out? I mean, I thought Poland would win but I was much more surprised about Finland beating Denmark (although that was exceptional circumstances of course)

Thought the same. Poland’s side looks pretty poor on paper? Slovakia have some really good players.

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Just now, Orzelek said:

 

Put the 2002, 2006 and 2018 World Cups to that list. The Euro 216 was a very good tournament for Poland, unfortunalty it seem as it was this only time they actually could play so well.

 

Probably you should take Bulgaria off that list - tehy haven't qualified for anything since 2004 :D 

True, if we only make it the last 20 years the map of European football is far different than the full picture. For example, Hungary to this day probably remains a contender for top 10 sides in Europe and they have barely resurged with 2 Euro participations. 

 

I guess I could replace Bulgaria with Ireland but don't have the data right now. Romania used to be great in the 1980s-2000s as well, so they shouldn't be lumped with Greece (sparsely decent over time with a few nice hiccups in the 2000s and early 2010s) and Turkey (only good in late 90s to late 00s).

 

It's hard to measure these things over time, but I am talking about "brand" quality. You hear Poland, you don't really expect much. It's not the 70s.

 

 

 

I noticed that some countries do much better in the World Cup than the Euro and vice versa and even more remarkably, in the qualification stage, too!

The Czechs for example have only been in 1 World Cup, yet they have never missed a Euro, possibly the only country that can claim that thanks to their young life. That's 1/6 and 7/7 respectively. Insane stat. Also important to note that they manage to escape the group stage every second appearance. Finalists, group stage, semi finalist, group stage, quarter finalists, group stage... now with a round of 16, maybe that's where they end to keep this going :D 

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We had a good generation in the 80s and 90s, and even when we didn't qualify, we were really close. Qualified in 1984,1990, 1994,1996,1998 and 2000, made it to the KO stage on 4 occasions. Missed out on qualifying by a single point in 1982,1986,1988 and 1992.Bit unfair to be put in the same bracket as Turkey, Switzerland or Bulgaria even if some of their best results are better than our best performance. :D 

We've been **** since, but we were regular qualifiers and got some decent results over the years. 

 

Edited by Marius_R
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6 minutes ago, Marius_R said:

We had a good generation in the 80s and 90s, and even when we didn't qualify, we were really close. Qualified in 1984,1990, 1994,1996,1998 and 2000, made it to the KO stage on 4 occasions. Missed out on qualifying by a single point in 1982,1986,1988 and 1992.Bit unfair to be put in the same bracket as Turkey, Switzerland or Bulgaria even if some of their best results are better than our best performance. :D 

We've been **** since, but we were regular qualifiers and got some decent results over the years.

How are Dennis Man and Florinel Coman coming along?

Edited by Baptista_8
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49 minutes ago, Pukey said:

Is this really as big a shock as ITV are making out? I mean, I thought Poland would win but I was much more surprised about Finland beating Denmark (although that was exceptional circumstances of course)

No. It's hardly a shock. I think there's just a bit of ignorance around sides that aren't at the very top of the game. Poland might have a marquee player in Lewandowski, but the squads aren't a million miles apart across the board. Slovakians would have expected a tough game today, but they'd have fancied their chances. 

I'm actually quite disappointed with ITV's coverage so far. I tuned in to the Austria v North Macedonia tie yesterday from the start (one hour before k/o). Forty-five minutes were dedicated to discussing the England game that had just finished on the BBC. Then we had fifteen minutes where the teams were announced and a brief bit was said about how they qualified. I understand that there might not be a huge appetite in the UK for either side, but I think it would be nice to learn a bit more about them. 

But maybe I just have a greater appetite for the global game than most ITV viewers. Being a Football Manager player certainly helps :D

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37 minutes ago, Marius_R said:

We had a good generation in the 80s and 90s, and even when we didn't qualify, we were really close. Qualified in 1984,1990, 1994,1996,1998 and 2000, made it to the KO stage on 4 occasions. Missed out on qualifying by a single point in 1982,1986,1988 and 1992.Bit unfair to be put in the same bracket as Turkey, Switzerland or Bulgaria even if some of their best results are better than our best performance. :D 

We've been **** since, but we were regular qualifiers and got some decent results over the years. 

 

You're kinda right, Romania is definitely closer to the Sweden, Denmark, Czech etc category when talking qualification stats but they just didn't make it to the main event as much. 

 

Switzerland and Belgium get mad underrated for their historic significance. Both benefited lately from a new wave of generations as well as easier access to main tournaments, but people knock on Belgium and pretend as if they came out of nowhere just because of a bad spell in the 2000s. Switzerland was similar, but theirs happened for a longer time and earlier. Both these have appeared in roughly 15 main tournaments since ww2 (1930, 1934 and 1938 I think the tournaments were by invitation, sort of applied in the first two ones in the 50s as well). Just for comparison, that's Portugal and Sweden level and slightly behind the Netherlands and slightly ahead of Denmark etc. 

 

Romania has 9-10 appearances iirc in the same time, as does Bulgaria who prefer to go to the World Cup over the Euro lol.

Edited by Yuko
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Just now, Baptista_8 said:

What are Dennis Man and Florinel Coman coming along?

Man settled pretty well in Parma, but then got injured and missed the end of the season. I think he left at the right moment, he'd have moved towards a career dead end had he stayed at Steaua more. Coman has been unlucky with injuries this season, he started off well. I find him incredibly frustrating to watch, because he always tries too much. He's also very selfish and that leads to him being very wasteful. He's also one of that buffoon's running the club favorite, so he's pretty cocky, which makes him unlikeable. 

One player to watch is Valentin Mihaila, from Parma, but even him is not better than a mid-table Serie A team at best imo.

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6 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

Lewandowski's record on big competitions is questionable to say the least...

Screenshot-20210614-204530.jpg

Screenshot-20210614-204604.jpg

 

This is why I'll always be biased to the likes of Batistuta who pulled goals out of nothing.

He only scores against European champions :)

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40 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

This is why I'll always be biased to the likes of Batistuta who pulled goals out of nothing.

 

Batistuta's teammates for Argentina in the 90's were miles better than the Polish team, so ofcourse he had a much better record at the big tournaments.

Edited by Orzelek
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