The Poles suffered a 5-1 loss, damaging both in terms of Nations League prospects and morale, to Portugal on Friday.
Their second half collapse was alarming, especially after they appeared stable and held the Portuguese level for nearly an hour.
However, the defeat to Portugal was understandable; they are a team and squad with a level of quality throughout the starting XI and squad that is clearly above the Poles.
Michał Probierz’s Polish side must put the setback behind them, as a loss against Scotland would mean relegation to Nations League B. Meanwhile, a win or a draw would mean a playoff against a nation from league B to decide who will compete in League A next season.
Teams in League A have better access to the Nations League Finals and additional opportunities to secure qualification spots for bigger tournaments, such as the World Cup and the European Championships.
League A usually results in more ranking points due to the strength of opponents, boosting a nation’s standing in UEFA and FIFA rankings. Higher rankings can lead to better seedings in tournament draws, avoiding early matchups with other top teams.
However, there is an argument to be made that Poland might be better off, at least in terms of maintaining confidence, in League B, facing nations at a similar standard to themselves.
They go into Monday’s final fixture with one very narrow victory (2-3 away to Scotland), a fortunate draw (3-3 at home to Croatia) and three defeats.
New line-up
Probierz looks set to ring the changes for the Scotland match, some of which will be enforced. Poland lost defensively-minded trio Bartosz Bereszyński, Jan Bednarek and Taras Romanczuk to injury against Portugal. Midfielder Sebastian Szymański was injured in the warm-up and faces a race against time to be fit to face the Scots.
Without Bereszyński and the already injured Przemysław Frankowski, Poland’s right flank is debilitated. It is likely Jakub Kamiński will deputize, but if Probierz is feeling bold, he may opt for Dominik Marczuk, who is more of a conventional winger as opposed to a wing-back, which Probierz typically plays with.
In attack, there remains an obvious Robert Lewandowski-shaped hole to be filled. Krzysztof Piątek worked against Portugal but is fundamentally a poacher and does not contribute to the team's buildup. Probierz was then left with a choice between the height and power of Adam Buksa and the speed of Karol Świderski.
Shambolic incidents
The latter, by no fault of his own, was embroiled in an administrative mix-up on Friday. Świderski was about to enter the fray as a second-half substitute when the fourth official pointed out that he was not listed as part of the players registered for the match.
Unfortunately, the errors did not end there, as goalkeeper Marcin Bułka (wearing the number 12 shirt) came out in the second half with shorts—bearing the number one—belonging to his keeper rival Łukasz Skorupski.
Fighting spirit needed
Poland have shown glimpses of the quality needed to hold their own in League A, such as the fighting spirit to defeat Scotland in Glasgow, the attacking prowess to put three goals past Croatia, and Friday’s disciplined first-half performance against Portugal.
On Monday, they face a Scotland team that still have a chance of qualifying for the Nations League quarterfinals if they win, so the Poles will need to show some of the aforementioned qualities if they are to maintain their League A status.
