The Poles held a friendly New Year's tournament in the Spanish city of Granollers, in which they performed very well. Initially, they lost to the Spaniards 25:31, but in the next two matches they scored 38 goals against their opponents. The defeat of the Serbs 38:33 deserves special recognition. One day later, the Polish national team followed suit and beat Slovakia 38:20.
1. This is the composition of the Polish national team for the European Championship
“And I wonder if it's bad and not too fast that we played so well in the last friendlies. In Spain we wanted to play with our new tactics, which turned out very well. We got better every day.”
These are the words of Lijewski, who has been the coach of the Polish national team since April. The tournament held in Germany will be his first serious test in this field. When reading and listening to the coach's statements, you get the impression that he attaches great importance to the character of the team. Whether we like it or not, it goes back to the golden age of handball when, as a player, he stood on the podium of the big event.
– We won medals at the World Championship, but we were not the best handball players in the world. We made up for it with our incredible character, which allowed us to take a one or two goal advantage in many games which determined the final result. I would like today's team to go in this direction as well, – says Lievsky in an interview given to the official website of ZPRP.
Before the German championship, the new coach had a big problem. The injury ruled out team captain Arkadiusz Morita, who did not have time to heal his shoulder. That's why the captain's armband went to Macie Gebala.
Morito was supposed to play in the right half at the European Championship, where there was a hole to exit. Ultimately, the trainer will return to the solution proven in the past. – Michal Dashek will play in the right half and works well in this position, but there is no chance that Michal will play the entire tournament. Therefore, in the last matches, we often played right-handed players on the right side – adds the coach.
Liewski is not going to tie players to their positions, so we should see a lot of rotation in the second line in the upcoming tournament. Fortunately, friendly matches in Spain showed that we are stronger than shooting from 9 meters. Industria Kielce's Szymon Sychko has to be the strongest shot, but pundits were impressed by the shooting form of Damian Przytula and Ariel Pietrasik.
Granoller's flanks also played well. The MVP of the match against the Serbs was Jakub Siszko from Gornik Zabrze, and Mateusz Kosmala from MMTS Kwidzyn scored the most – 7 goals in the match against Slovakia. It will be the first major tournament of the left-hander's career, as will Przemyslaw Urbaniak, who plays on the other side. Mikolaj Chaplinski had an episode in the national team at Euro 2022.
Our goalkeepers have more experience in big tournaments. Mateusz Kornecki and Jakub Skrzyniarz were part of the national team that had to swallow bitter pills during the World Cup held in Poland and Sweden last year. This time, the first violin between the posts should be played by Skrzyniarz, who recently gave an excellent performance at the club Bidasoa Irun. He played a great match against the Spaniards at the tournament held in Granoller. It is interesting that the coach brings only two goalkeepers to Germany, because Adam Moravski gave up at the last stage.
The character that coach Lijewski talks about will be needed first in the defense, where Bartlomiej Bis is expected to be the leader. It is possible that Kamil Sifrzak will support him in defensive activities. The Polish pivot, who plays for PSG, is in good form this season, which coach Liewski wants to take advantage of. Sifrzak himself, who missed last year's World Championship due to health problems, emphasizes: – I think we are on the right path to start competing with the best soon. Each of us hopes that we will finally start winning valuable victories – says the experienced Weller.
Winning one of their first two matches at the 2024 European Championship will certainly be of great value to the Poles, who, as fate would have it, face Norway in Group D on January 11. This is a world-class team that should fight for the final triumph in Germany. However, during the preparations for the tournament, he had some misfortunes, such as a 5-goal defeat against Egypt, so he will come to the championship upset.
– We want to fix the scandal with Egypt – says the Norwegian center back Sander Sagosen.
Experts give more chances to Polish handball players in the second match against Slovenia, which will arrive at the tournament weakened. Several of our representatives have scores to settle with the Slovenians – we lost to them at the World Championship last year. It was a very painful and costly failure. This time it will be different and coach Liewski sees weak points in the opponent team of the second group.
“Slovenia are a hell of a team, but they have a typical Balkan mentality. It means there will be no iron discipline in this team and when they are at a weaker point, we will look for opportunities to bite.”
The third opponent of the Poles in the first group phase will be the Faroe Islands. This is a team that cannot be underestimated – young and just gaining experience, but already extremely dangerous, as the Belgians found out in the friendlies.
Only two teams will advance to the second group stage, so there will be no place for a weaker day for the Polish team from the beginning of the tournament. However, the 38-goal haul against the Serbs and Slovakia whetted the appetite of fans who have been waiting since 2016 to see the Poles perform spectacularly at the main event. Maybe Marcin Liewski's team will finally give them moments of joy, as they use time-outs colorfully during matches. Compared to his coaching activities in Gornik Zabrze, he bites his tongue more often.
– As a coach, you should not swear. I know that our matches are watched by a wide audience, including children. Such self-control is not easy, because I have to admit that sport generates such emotions that it is very difficult to hold back the tongue – says “Ližek” in an interview with ZPRP.
I hope there will be as many emotions in the future championships as in Lizhevsky's professional career. And if there are favorable results, that is, “one easy win”, the unparliamentary language of the coach will only add to the unique atmosphere.