Poland VS Russia – Match Report

7:45pm GMT Kick Off, Municipal Stadium, International Friendly

A First Half Equaliser From Vyacheslav Karavaev Was Enough To See Russia Draw With Poland.

Poland opened the scoreline early on with Jakub Swierczok, before Karavaev pulled one back halfway through the first half. Both teams pushed for a winner through-out the second half, but neither team could break down the oppositions defense for a second time.

Poland took an early lead through Jakub Swierczok. Mateusz Klich played a lovely ball over to the Russian defense to Przemyslaw Frankowski, who put it on a plate for the 28-year-old to give Poland the advantage.

Klich tried to release Frankowski down the line, as he looked to be the provider once again, but Anton Shunin did well to clear his lines.

The first bit of good play from Russia came through Aleksei Miranchuk. He found space out wide, and made a run with the ball into the box. He tried to pick out Artem Dzyuba, however, it was intercepted and cleared away from uncertainty.

In the 20th minute, Russia drew level through the fullback, Vyacheslav Karavaev. Aleksandr Golovin played an inviting ball towards the back post. It looked like Dzyuba would be the target, but Karavaev flew through the defense as he met the ball, and squeezed it between Lukasz Fabianski’s legs.

Poland nearly took the lead immediately after the setback, when Klich got the ball on the edge of the box, after it was cleared by a Russian defender. He hit it first time, but it was just over the bar.

They came so close again, this time it came from Swierczok. The Russian defenders invited him to cross the ball into the box. His cross didn’t go how he wanted, but it came close to tricking the keeper as it bounced off the top of the bar and went out for a goal kick.

Once again, Klich was causing all the problems for Russia, and he had have had an assist to his name. He found space out on the left, and whipped it into Karol Swiderski and although he had a free header, it was directly at the keeper. Which was the last big chance of the half.

The first chance of the second half came from Tymoteusz Puchacz. Poland picked up a free kick just outside the box. The fullback tried to lift it over the wall and under the bar, but the shot just had too much power on it for it to dip under the crossbar.

Both teams lacked much creativity in the second half, which saw little to no action. The substitutions slowed down the tempo of the game, and when the teams did attack, the opponents defense was quick to stop the danger high up the pitch, therefore the game ended at 1-1.

Poland now face Iceland as their final preparation before the Euros, while Russia play Bulgaria just before the Euros.

Man Of The Match – Mateusz Klich

The midfielder who plays for Leeds United was a key individual in the team for Poland in this match.

Despite drawing 1-1, Klich made a number of chances, which should have been finished by the Polish attackers. He also won the ball a lot in the midfield, and opened up the play with a number of key players which spread the play.

“Wroclaw Stadium” by Maciek Lulko is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0