Euro 2012: Poles relying on Robert Lewandowski’s star quality

By ANDREW SMITH
Published on 03/06/2012 00:04

POLAND are the hosts with the most. Unfortunately for them, it is the most to prove. At No.65 in the FIFA pecking order, the Poles are the lowest ranked country in Euro 2012. And proving that it is not just the £700million they spent on building four new stadia that justifies their presence among the continent’s elite nations could fall on the shoulders of 23-year-old Robert Lewandowski.

The Warsaw-born striker is one of three players in the co-hosts’ set up who plays with German champions Borussia Dortmund, defender Lukasz Piszczek and midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski, the others. And this trio alone provide the star quality coach Franciszek Smuda is depending on to make only a second appearance at these finals for Poland the first one to recall with any relish. Drawn in what looks the weakest of the four sections with Russia, Greece and the Czech Republic their Group A opponents, Smuda has targeted the quarter-finals, which Poland never threatened to progress to in flunking out badly at Euro 2008.

The emergence of the 6ft, two-footed Lewandowski addresses the chronic weakness the Poles exhibited four years ago. Then, it seemed goalscoring was alien to them. To the clinical Lewandowski, the son of a judo and basketball player, the sport of finding the net seems second nature. The striker, who will operate on his own through the middle in a 4-2-3-1, was voted Bundesliga player of the year after netting 30 times in 46 appearances for the Westfalstadion side. His 22 league goals were central to the club claiming the title for the second year running. And, just for good measure, he rounded of the campaign with a hat-trick – his second last season – as Bayern Munich were trounced in the German Cup final. His first full season as a nailed down starter at Dortmund ending with a league and cup double is a handsome return for the £4m paid to Lech Poznan for his services two years ago this month.

Not that the investment in Lewandowski ever seemed a great risk for a player long regarded as a clinical finisher. Making his international debut in September 2008 as a substitute against San Marino three weeks after turning 20, when he subsequently netted the only goal he became Poland’s second youngest scorer at international level. By then at Poznan, he had worked his way up his domestic league set up by finding the net prodigiously, top scoring in the Polish third division’s to ensure Znicz Pruszków moved up to the second tier in 2007, before out-netting all rivals in the Polish second division with 21 goals the next season. That earned Lewandowski a £1.3m move to Poznan and he had that club’s supporters doing their now famous back-to-pitch linked-arms jumping in celebration of a title success with his top scoring status, earned thanks to 18 goals, instrumental in their 2010 championship.

Lewandowski’s 13 goals in 41 international appearances may seem like a fairly modest return in the context of his domestic plundering but eight of these strikes have come in his last 16 outings. It is on his home stage, though, that the £15m player can further his ambition of one day trying his luck in Britain or Spain. The leagues he says he watches most, he will be one of the most watched by teams from these countries.

Just as Lewandowski has blossomed in the past year, so Poland have also fared well in preparatory friendlies for their hosting of Euro 2012 during that time. They have played nine times and suffered only one defeat, at home to Italy in November. That form, albeit while playing without pressure, makes the outcomes against erratic rivals in Group A difficult to call.

A better idea of how the section may pan out will be formed after the tournament gets underway on Friday with Poland facing Greece at the national stadium at tea-time before Russia meet the Czech Republic in the later kick-off in Wroclaw. The presence of Celtic forward Georgios Samaras makes Greece one of the few teams in which there is a representative from Scotland’s top flight, but that is unlikely to result in the winners of the tournament eight years ago providing much in the way of intrigue for Scotland’s footballing couch potatoes. For, although now under the stewardship of Fernando Santos, they have remained true to Otto Rehhagel’s successful Euro 2004 strategy in that they are industrious, obdurate and threaten mainly from set-pieces. If they dare to mix it up, they could turn to 22-year-old Olympiakos Piraeus winger Giannis Fetfatzidis. Dubbed the “Greek Messi” (well every country seems to have one) but his flair could remain out of keeping with Santos’ strategy.

Russia have their own jewels, meanwhile, but these appear to have lost their lustre in recent years with Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko dulled by their spells in the English game. Arshavin, now 31, returned to Zenit St Petersburg to win game time denied to him at Arsenal while Spurs provided little of this for Pavlyuchenko. Under the charge of the redoubtable Dick Advocaat there is no question that Russia have the means and the methods. It is just that they seem a team who have known better days, though their 3-0 defeat of Italy the other night demonstrated the dangers they can pose when it clicks. Favourites to win Group A, that might say as much about the teams they have been paired with as their own longer-term Euro 2012 prospects.

In the Czech Republic, whom Scotland know all about, they shouldn’t encounter an opponent to concern them greatly. The Czechs were relieved that fitness issues surrounding Tomas Rosicky seem to dissipated. The best hope for Michal Bilek’s men might be winning dodgy penalties or opponents setting up in a 6-4-0 formation against them. You never know, Greece might give that a whirl.

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