STARTING XI
REMAINING SQUAD MEMBERS
3 best players not in the squad:
6 players from the team that finished 3rd at the 1974 World Cup make this starting XI, with a further 3 on the bench. Of all the 27 nations I created squads for, this is the one that is most dominated by a single decade. However, modern day striker Robert Lewandowski has become their greatest ever player in my eyes. There is not much at all between Tomaszewski and Mylnarcyk for the starting goalkeeper position, it was a close call. Piszczek can act as a back-up right back and 4th centre-back if necessary. Wozniak makes it as a back-up left-back over Adam Musial - Musial's reputation I found to be quite heavily based on the World Cup alone, where he replaced Anczok due to injury. Maszczyk and Brychczy are enough to cover the deeper midfield 3 here, while Pohl covers Boniek behind the strikers. I have Boniek 2 places above Deyna in my attacking-midfielder rankings, which may be considered harsh on Deyna. But ultimately he was not allowed to join a major European club, and it can only be assumed that he would have been a success - with Boniek nothing is left to imagination. Wilimowski and Cieslik can then cover upfront, the latter narrowly ahead of Andrzej Szarmach. After choosing the players to cover the starting XI, I had 2 spots left to choose. Of course, Lato had to make it, he was unlucky not to start due to the formation chosen here. I could've used a 4-4-2 to include him and put Boniek on the right wing, but Deyna would have been wasted in a 2 man midfield. Gadocha then made it as my final pick as the next best player not yet included. Players by Decade: 1970's (10), 1960's (4), 1950's (4), 1980's (2), 2020's (1), 2010's (1), 1940's (1) Top 10 Polish Players of All-Time (World Class Players in Bold - 7)
(& their all-time positional rank)
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