The world No 36 Poland are the first of two European teams the 83rd-ranked All Whites will play this year.
While the All Whites will be using
the next few international windows to continue their preparation for next year’s Football World Cup, Poland – or any team from Europe – have yet to lock in their World Cup berth.
Both teams will be looking at the bigger picture in Chorzow with the All Whites to play world No 31 Norway five days later on 15 October, while Poland have a World Cup qualifier in this window against Lithuania.
Form
The All Whites have won two of the last five matches they have played this year. Poland have three wins and a draw in their last five results.
Friday’s game will be the third time the All Whites have played Poland. The first meeting was in 1999, a match Poland won on penalties. In 2002, Poland won 2-0.
Squads
The All Whites have made several changes from the September international window with Owen Parker-Price and George Stanger included for the first time.
Dalton Wilkins and Eli Just have withdrawn from the original squad due to injury with Wellington Phoenix player and Under-20 captain Lukas Kelly-Heald getting a call-up.
Squad: Max Crocombe, Alex Paulsen, Nik Tzanev, Tyler Bindon, Michael Boxall, Francis de Vries, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Tim Payne, Tommy Smith, George Stanger, Finn Surman, Joe Bell, Andre de Jong, Matt Garbett, Callum McCowatt, Ben Old, Owen Parker-Price, Sarpreet Singh, Marko Stamenić, Ryan Thomas, Bill Tuiloma, Ben Waine, Chris Wood.
Poland’s Robert Lewandowski. Photo: ANDRZEJ IWANCZUK
Poland have brought back experienced captain and striker Robert Lewandowski, as well as lured winger Kamil Grosicki out of retirement for the October international window.
Lewandowski is the third-highest goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League and was the runner-up for the Ballon d’Or in 2021.
Squad: Bartłomiej Drągowski, Kamil Grabara, Łukasz Skorupski, Kacper Tobiasz, Jan Bednarek, Matty Cash, Tomasz Kędziora, Jakub Kiwior, Arkadiusz Pyrka, Przemysław Wiśniewski, Paweł Wszołek, Jan Ziółkowski, Przemysław Frankowski, Kamil Grosicki, Jakub Kamiński, Bartosz Kapustka, Kacper Kozłowski, Jakub Piotrowski, Michał Skóraś, Bartosz Slisz, Sebastian Szymański, Piotr Zieliński, Robert Lewandowski, Krzysztof Piątek, Karol Świderski.
What they are saying
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley on the schedule: “It’s unusual for us to be playing on a Thursday [local time] so it’s a little bit earlier in the window than we normally have and that meant we only got two training sessions before the game.”
Bazeley on the plan against Poland: “We’re obviously going to play our possession game; we’ve got players that play possession-based football. What we’re challenged with is how can we turn that into more goal-scoring moments.
“We’ll definitely be looking at can we get the ball into the box can we create more goal-scoring chances and can we play that attractive style of football.”
Bazeley’s thoughts on the Poland’s potential approach: “[They’ve] got a whole squad of very good players, obviously some top players and the guys that are a bit well-known to us that played in Premier League and different top leagues around the world.
“I know Poland have a World Cup qualifier at the weekend so it will be interesting what the coach does in regards to selection will he go a fully strong team against us on a Thursday night here, but it’s a home game for Poland so he’ll want to be strong in that or is he going to rest players and look towards the World Cup qualifier at the weekend. Whatever he does, the squad’s pretty deep of good talented players so it’s going to be a challenge.”
All Whites newcomer George Stanger on his potential senior international debut in this window: “It would be amazing for me it’s something that has been a goal of mine for a long time and something I’ve been working towards so to get the opportunity to be involved with the squad is a massive thing for me and it’s exciting and I’m learning a lot from it but to get the opportunity to be on the pitch would be really special.”
– RNZ