Coach Michał Probierz, previously in charge of the under 21s, placed his trust in several of his younger players and initially rested star striker Robert Lewandowski.
Early on, the gamble appeared to have paid off as the team got off to a flying start when 20-year-old Kacper Urbański cut in from the left, played a defence-splitting pass through to captain-for-the-evening Piotr Zieliński, who slotted the ball into the far corner after just five minutes.
However, the Croatians rapidly regained control. Borna Sosa hit a sweetly struck volley from the edge of the penalty area into Marcin Bułka’s far post in the 19th minute.
Michał Probierz has been rotating his goalkeepers since Wojciech Szczęsny’s international retirement. Łukasz Skorupski played against Portugal last Saturday, and both he and Bułka conceded three times in Poland’s last two matches. But given that neither made a glaring error, it would be harsh to attribute blame to either of them for letting in so many.
One of the more concerning issues for Poland is its defence, often looking ill-equipped to deal with smart movement and pacy opposition. In the 24th minute, Croatian midfielder Petar Sučić played a quick one-two, strode into the area and swept the ball into the corner.
Two minutes later Croatia grabbed a third. Paweł Dawidowicz’s sloppy ball straight into the path of Sučić, who played in Martin Baturina to poke the ball between Bułka’s legs.
Fightback
At 3-1 down, the Poles, to their credit, responded well, putting the Croatians on the back foot. The consistently impressive Roma wide man Nicola Zalewski finished expertly on the stroke of half time to halve the arrears.
Midway through the second period, with Lewandowski now on the pitch, the Poles drew level. The Barcelona forward held the ball up on the corner of the area before setting up Fenerbahce midfielder Sebastian Szymański, who curled a left shot into the corner.
The Poles rode their luck at times in the second half, with Croatia missing numerous presentable opportunities and Bułka pulling off some excellent saves.
In the 75th minute, Croatian keeper Dominik Livaković was harshly dismissed for a seemingly unintentional studs-up-follow-through on Lewandowski after he had cleared the ball.
Poland can probably count themselves lucky to win a point from this Nations League match, as the opposition were wasteful in front of goal. Probierz needs to address serious problems as the back three of Dawidowicz, Bednarek and Kiwior are a porous trio and often slow to react to danger.
Youthful promise
However, there were promising signs that some of Poland’s younger players, afforded an opportunity to make an impression, did not shirk responsibility.
Urbański showed creativity and technical ability, 22-year-old Jakub Kamiński was lively and displayed a willingness to run at his man, while the influential Zalewski on the left combined all of the aforementioned attributes to once again prove Poland’s most potent attacking threat.
Poland are third in the four-team group and face table-toppers Portugal and then bottom side Scotland in mid-November.
