Sunday was the calmest day of the entire training camp. The emotions after the victory over Estonia (5:1) have already subsided, and the emotions before the match against Wales have not yet increased. The Polish representatives went to the cinema, and in the afternoon they had their last training session before flying to Cardiff. All players took part, except Przemysław Frankowski, who once again trained under the supervision of a physiotherapist and a doctor. The team predicts that the fight to prepare him for the game will last until the very end, and the final decision will probably be made only on the day of the match. The motivation is high – not only did Frankowski score the first goal in the match against Estonia and he arrived at the training camp in good shape, but it is difficult to find a replacement on the right wing. In the same match, Matty Cash was injured and returned to England, and on Saturday Paweł Wszołek was called up to the training camp in his place. He is a player who plays in this position in Legia Warszawa, but has recently been in poorer form.
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Nicola Zalewski prefers to stay on the left side. “I hope the coach watched the match against Estonia”
Nicola Zalewski finished the match against Estonia on the right side and, while playing there, he assisted two goals, but as he himself emphasizes, he feels much more comfortable on the left side. – The most important thing is that I’m in the right moment. As Piotr Zieliński said after the match against Estonia: we don’t play much in clubs, but we are in good shape. We have strong, good training and that is enough. I feel better on the left side, but I will play wherever the coach wants, he said at a press conference. Since Jose Mourinho left Roma and Danielle De Rossi took over the team, the Pole has been playing much less. – The coach relies on older players because he needs victories. The team has good results, but I know that if I get a chance, I will have to prove something. I’m in good shape and I hope the coach watched our match against Estonia. This could help me, he smiled.
Both Zalewski and Bartosz Slisz, sitting next to him, spoke with great respect about the Wales national team. – I wouldn’t talk about individual players because, above all, Wales is a very compact team. They are strong, physical, and play well on the counterattack. We know that they line up in a 3-4-3, have a defensive collective and wait for counterattacks because they have fast players, and some of them have high football quality. But we must think about ourselves first and foremost. Our game will be important to make us happy, not tired. The terrain is difficult, we expect a close match and we want to create many opportunities for our attackers, said Slisz, who moved from Legia Warszawa to Atlanta United in the winter. However, he does not complain about jet lag. – The club prepared a special plan for me to avoid it. I managed to adapt to the new time zone. It was about eating well and getting enough sleep on the plane. The Polish Football Association made sure that I had a good, comfortable place. I can’t complain, he said. – I am very pleased with the transfer. It’s only been two months, the league has just started, but I’ve already noticed that the game is more aggressive in MLS. This even surprised me a bit, because Ekstraklasa is also good in this respect. As for the differences, in MLS the game seems to be more open and each team is offensive-oriented, he said.
The match against Wales starts on Tuesday at 20.45. The winner will advance to the European Championships in Germany and will face France, the Netherlands and Austria in the group.
