Mila and Szukała out, Dawidowicz in for Poland
Thursday, May 12, 2016
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There is no place for Sebastian Mila or Łukasz Szukała in Poland's provisional 28-man squad but Paweł Dawidowicz has been called up despite not yet making his first-team Benfica debut.
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Sebastian Mila and Łukasz Szukała are the key absentees after Poland coach Adam Nawałka named a 28-man provisional squad for UEFA EURO 2016.
Mila scored the second goal in Poland's crucial 2-0 defeat of Germany in October 2014 but has been out of form for Lechia Gdańsk in the Ekstraklasa. Defender Łukasz Szukała, a regular in qualifying, has been out of favour at Turkish club Osmanslispor.
Along with 13-goal qualifying top scorer Robert Lewandowski, 21-year-old central defender Paweł Dawidowicz has been called up. That is despite not yet making his first-team debut for Benfica, whom he joined from Lechia in 2014, though he did earn a first Poland cap last November in a friendly against the Czech Republic.
"I looked at the players closely, both in terms of their club and national-team performances, and I am sure I have made a good choice," Nawałka said. "I picked players I know very well, players I believe in. There is a big challenge ahead of us and I'm sure we'll be prepared for it."
Pre-tournament plans
The 28 players will gather for two training camps in Poland before the squad is cut to the mandatory 23 ahead of friendlies against the Netherlands on 1 June in Gdansk and Lithuania five days later in Krakow.
Provisional Poland squad for UEFA EURO 2016
Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Bournemouth), Łukasz Fabiański (Swansea City), Wojciech Szczęsny (Roma), Przemysław Tytoń (Stuttgart).
Defenders: Thiago Cionek (Palermo), Paweł Dawidowicz (Benfica), Kamil Glik (Torino), Artur Jędrzejczyk (Legia Warszawa), Michał Pazdan (Legia Warszawa), Łukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund), Maciej Rybus (Terek Grozny), Bartosz Salamon (Cagliari), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Lechia Gdańsk).
Midfielders: Jakub Błaszczykowski (Fiorentina), Kamil Grosicki (Rennes), Tomasz Jodłowiec (Legia Warszawa), Bartosz Kapustka (Cracovia), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Sevilla), Karol Linetty (Lech Poznań), Krzysztof Mączyński (Wisła Kraków), Sławomir Peszko (Lechia Gdańsk), Filip Starzyński (Zagłębie Lubin), Paweł Wszołek (Verona), Piotr Zieliński (Empoli).
Forwards: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern München), Arkadiusz Milik (Ajax), Artur Sobiech (Hannover), Mariusz Stępiński (Ruch Chorzów).
Poland's Group C fixtures
12/06: Poland v Northern Ireland (Nice)
16/06: Germany v Poland (Saint-Denis)
21/06: Ukraine v Poland (Marseille)
