Georgia unlikely to have enough to thwart Poland and boost Ireland hopes
This evening in Tbilisi the Georgians warm up with a match against Ukraine.
That usually has an edge to it, but as Ukraine’s next game is at home to Luxembourg they are likely to be in a relaxed mood and not much should be read into the outcome.
Georgia’s new manager Kakhaber Tskhadadze once scored against Poland in a World Cup qualifier, but his aim on Saturday will be to frustrate them and stay as compact as possible.
Having conceded four times in the home fixture last November, the match that cost Temuri Ketsbaia his job, the players will be hoping the Poles have an off day, or an excess of confidence.
Some Polish optimism is inevitable. The disappointment of the last World Cup qualifying campaign seems to be well behind them. They are top of the group, Adam Nawalka has a full squad to choose from, and several key players have had excellent seasons.
One of them is Grzegorz Krychowiak, who made his debut more than six years ago at the age of 19 but seemed to be marking time in the French league until 12 months ago when Sevilla signed him from Reims.
His strength in the midfield holding role was enough to attract Arsenal’s interest in January and he has also scored a few goals, most recently in the final of the Europa League against Dnipro.
Kamil Glik has also enjoyed a great year at centre back for Torino.
His commanding presence made him a natural choice as captain when he was appointed two years ago but the real surprise this past season has been his goalscoring: Seven in Serie A, including goals against Genoa, Milan and Napoli.
Whether Torino will manage to keep him is the question. German cup winners Wolfsburg are one of several clubs set to make an approach.
Poland’s existing Bundesliga contingent, led by Robert Lewandowski, have had mixed fortunes. Lewandowski himself has scored 25 goals, 17 in Bayern Munich’s inevitable progress to the title. That can hardly be called failure.
But when it came to the crunch in the Champions League last month against Barcelona he missed a sitter when the score was 0-0 that could come to haunt him. A goal in the second leg when the tie was over was scant consolation.
Dortmund’s two Polish stars, Lukasz Piszczek and Jakub ‘Kuba’ Blaszczykowski, have endured a wretched season, culminating in cup final defeat against Wolfsburg. Both have struggled for form and Kuba spent most of the season struggling for fitness after a cruciate injury.
Captain of Poland in 2012, Kuba now returns to the team after a 19-month absence, following a meeting in Germany with Nawalka. The meeting was intended to be private, but the story was leaked to a sports paper, since when there has been continued speculation about friction between Kuba and Lewandowski, his former Dortmund team-mate and the current man with the armband.
But lurking in the fans’ minds may also be another June evening two years ago when Kuba again was the scorer but they could only draw 1-1 in Moldova, badly damaging their efforts to qualify for the World Cup.
Circumstances are different. Poland are currently top scorers in this tournament. But they will want to be absolutely sure of these three points.
