Blaszczykowski: Poles have steel to progress
Reuters - Tuesday 12 June 2012, 22:14
Poland's young side showed what they
were made of by fighting back to draw 1-1 with Russia and cannot
wait for their final Euro 2012 Group A clash with the Czech
Republic, captain Jakub Blaszczykowski told reporters on
Tuesday.
Blaszczykowski's superb strike and a counter-attacking
second-half performance earned the hosts a point against a team
who had looked like one of the tournament's favourites in
hammering the Czech Republic 4-1.
"I am really satisfied after this game," Blaszczykowski told
a news conference. "We showed what character we have.
"With the sort of support we had here today from the fans,
we are capable of achieving a lot. I believe that we can secure
a historic advance to the quarter finals against the Czechs."
Coach Franciszek Smuda refused to be drawn on how he would
approach Saturday's game in the southern Polish city of Wroclaw,
just miles from the Czech border, but signalled he was concerned
by injuries suffered by Damien Pequis and Eugen Polanski.
The Poles need to beat the Czechs to qualify for the
quarter-finals.
"We will need to wait and see with the players who are
injured, whether they are just niggles or something more," Smuda
said.
Smuda also said he felt UEFA's decision to open the national
stadium's roof for Tuesday's game had helped the Poles and said
that the team had felt less under pressure than in the
tournament opener.
But he refused to sign up to an enthusiastic reaction from
local media, declining to call it the best performance of his
two years as coach.
"I think that we have played a lot of good games," he said.
"When you are building a game, you do not play always the same.
What I can say is that we can see that the team is playing
better and better."
Blaszczykowski said the Poles, who did not have to qualify
for only their second ever appearance at the European
Championship, had proved their right to be in the tournament.
"We proved that we know how to play, we have character and
charisma. We are still in the game, we have two points. For us
this is a very positive thing," he said.