WROCLAW, Poland. June 1 (UEFA) – Substitutes Jakub Kaminski and Karol Swiderski ensured that Poland got off to a positive start in UEFA Nations League Group A4 with a win over Wales in Wroclaw.
Final score: Poland – Wales 2:1
With Sunday’s FIFA World Cup play-off in mind, Wales boss Rob Page chose to rest most of his first-choice players – not least Gareth Bale.
Piotr Zielinski and Robert Lewandowski had first-half chances, but Wales performed admirably and took a shock lead after making three half-time substitutions, Jonny Williams’ angled shot dipping and swerving as it flew past debutant goalkeeper Kamil Grabara.
Poland sprung to life after making some substitutions of their own, Tymoteusz Puchacz’s ball in from the right finding Jakub Kaminski, and the 19-year-old steadying himself before threading the ball inside the far post.
Another replacement, Karol Świderski, then hit the winner, clipping a shot past substitute goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey from close range after a blocked Lewandowski shop looped up into his path.
“We started well but also had some difficulties in the first half. We created some chances and I think we should have scored before half-time. The second half started the worst possible way for us with Wales scoring, but we managed to turn things around.” said Czeslaw Michniewicz, Poland’s coach.
“I brought on Jakub Kaminski and Nicola Zalewski since they are good dribblers and that helped us. Kaminski scored a typical goal for him, like he scored last season in the Polish Ekstraklasa.” he added.
Poland play Belgium next on June 8 in Brussels for their second UEFA Nations League Group A4 match.
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Poland – Wales 2:1 (0:0)
Goals: Kamiński 72′, Świderski 85′ – Williams 52′
Yellow carded: Bereszyński – Morrell, Norrington-Davies
Referee: Rade Obrenovič (Slovenia)
Attendance: 35 214
Poland: 1. Kamil Grabara – 18. Bartosz Bereszyński, 15. Kamil Glik, 5. Jan Bednarek, 19. Tymoteusz Puchacz (73, 21. Nicola Zalewski) – 14. Mateusz Klich (60, 8. Szymon Żurkowski), 10. Grzegorz Krychowiak (81, 11. Kamil Grosicki), 20. Piotr Zieliński, 6. Jacek Góralski (60, 2. Jakub Kamiński) – 7. Adam Buksa (73, 16. Karol Świderski), 9. Robert Lewandowski
Wales: 12. Danny Ward (46, 1. Wayne Hennessey) – 2. Chris Gunter, 5. Chris Mepham, 17. Rhys Norrington-Davies – 7. Matt Smith, 22. Dylan Levitt, 16. Joe Morrell, 18. Jonny Williams (77, 10. Sorba Thomas), 9. Wes Burns (62, 3. Neco Williams) – 13. Kieffer Moore (46, 19. Mark Harris), 20. Daniel James (46, 11. Rabbi Matondo)
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