WARSAW, May 27 (Reuters) – Poland coach Franciszek Smuda
produced no surprises when he named his 23-man squad for Euro
2012 on Sunday.
It was largely expected that Smuda would drop midfielder
Tomasz Jodlowiec and striker Michal Kucharczyk, who had fared
poorly in a friendly win against Latvia, as well as defender
Kamil Glik from his provisional group of 26.
“I would like to thank them because they gave it their best,
they worked at full capacity and I hope they stay in contention
for squads in the future,” Smuda told a news conference.
On Saturday, Poland’s number two goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski
was officially ruled out of the tournament after injury his
shoulder at Poland’s training camp in Austria.
“I never was so frightened as during yesterday’s game
(against Slovakia). I never felt like that before in my life. I
was just thinking please make sure nobody gets injured,” Smuda
added after his side came through the 1-0 win unscathed.
Poland are due to play their last friendly on June 2 against
Andorra.
The European Championship, being co-hosted with Ukraine,
kicks off on June 8 when Poland face Greece in the opening match
at Warsaw’s newly built National Stadium. Czech Republic and
Russia are also in Group A.
“All four (in the group) have a chance, but Russia is the
favourite. The first match against Greece will set the pace,”
Smuda said.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal), Przemyslaw Tyton
(PSV Eindhoven), Grzegorz Sandomierski (Jagiellonia Bialystok)
Defenders: Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund), Marcin
Wasilewski (Anderlecht), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw), Marcin
Kaminski (Lech Poznan), Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan),
Sebastian Boenisch (Werder Bremen), Damien Perquis (Sochaux)
Midfielders: Eugen Polanski (Mainz), Dariusz Dudka
(Auxerre), Adam Matuszczyk (Fortuna Duesseldorf), Adrian
Mierzejewski (Trabzonspor), Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia
Dortmund), Ludovic Obraniak (Bordeaux), Maciej Rybus (Terek
Grozny), Kamil Grosicki (Sivasspor), Rafal Murawski (Lech
Poznan), Rafal Wolski (Legia Warsaw)
Forwards: Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund), Artur
Sobiech (Hanover), Pawel Brozek (Celtic)
(Reporting By Karolina Slowikowska and Rob Strybel, editing by
Mark Meadows)
