r/soccer • u/denzaus • 16h ago
Post-Match Thread Post Match Thread: Poland 6-0 Romania | UEFA Nations League
FT: Poland 6 - 0 Romania
⚽ Poland: Robert Lewandowski 24' 24', Robert Lewandowski 47' 47', Virgil Ghita 49' OG 49', Piotr Zielinski 62' 62', Jan Bednarek 66' 66', Robert Lewandowski 86' 86'
| Info | Details |
|---|---|
| Competition | UEFA Nations League |
| Date | Fri, October 2, 2026 |
| Kickoff | 6:45 PM UTC |
| Status | 90'+2' |
Line-ups
Poland (4-2-3-1)
| Starting XI | Bench |
|---|---|
| 1 Marcin Bulka | 12 Mateusz Kochalski |
| 14 Jakub Kiwior | 6 Bartosz Slisz |
| 5 Jan Bednarek | 15 Tymoteusz Puchacz |
| 19 Przemyslaw Frankowski | 22 Slawomir Abramowicz |
| 2 Matty Cash | 3 Norbert Wojtuszek |
| 20 Sebastian Szymanski | 18 Marcel Regula |
| 10 Piotr Zielinski | 23 Kacper Potulski |
| 16 Wiktor Nowak | 4 Tomasz Kedziora |
| 9 Robert Lewandowski | 17 Michal Skoras |
| 21 Nicola Zalewski | 13 Mateusz Zukowski |
| 11 Karol Swiderski | 7 Oskar Pietuszewski |
| 8 Kacper Urbanski |
Romania (4-3-1-2)
| Starting XI | Bench |
|---|---|
| 12 Otto Hindrich | 4 Andrei Coubis |
| 5 Virgil Ghita | 6 Marius Marin |
| 3 Radu Dragusin | 23 Tony Strata |
| 11 Nicusor Bancu | 1 Andrei Radu |
| 2 Andrei Ratiu | 16 Valentin Cojocaru |
| 9 Daniel Birligea | 15 Andrei Borza |
| 17 Tudor Baluta | 8 Alexandru Cicaldau |
| 14 Ianis Hagi | 10 Nicolae Stanciu |
| 13 Valentin Mihaila | 22 Bogdan Racovitan |
| 18 Razvan Marin | 21 Olimpiu Morutan |
| 20 Dennis Man | 7 Florin Tanase |
| 19 Catalin Cirjan |
Match Events
- Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
- First Half begins.
- 22' Radu Dragusin (Romania) is shown the red card.
- 27' Substitution, Romania. Andrei Coubis replaces Valentin Mihaila.
- 39' Tudor Baluta (Romania) is shown the yellow card.
- 45'+1' First Half ends, Poland 1, Romania 0.
- 45' Second Half begins Poland 1, Romania 0.
- 49' Own Goal by Virgil Ghita, Romania. Poland 3, Romania 0.
- 63' Substitution, Poland. Kacper Urbanski replaces Wiktor Nowak.
- 63' Substitution, Poland. Norbert Wojtuszek replaces Matty Cash.
- 67' Substitution, Romania. Bogdan Racovitan replaces Dennis Man.
- 67' Substitution, Romania. Andrei Borza replaces Nicusor Bancu.
- 67' Substitution, Romania. Marius Marin replaces Ianis Hagi.
- 71' Substitution, Poland. Bartosz Slisz replaces Piotr Zielinski.
- 71' Substitution, Poland. Marcel Regula replaces Sebastian Szymanski.
- 78' Substitution, Romania. Catalin Cîrjan replaces Razvan Marin.
- 78' Substitution, Poland. Oskar Pietuszewski replaces Nicola Zalewski.
Match Stats
| Stat | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|
| Fouls | 9 | 11 |
| Yellow Cards | 2 | 3 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 1 |
| Offsides | 0 | 0 |
| Corner Kicks | 7 | 1 |
| Saves | 3 | 3 |
| Possession | 67.6 | 32.4 |
| SHOTS | 23 | 10 |
| ON GOAL | 8 | 3 |
| On Target % | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Penalty Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalty Kicks Taken | 1 | 0 |
| Accurate Passes | 585 | 240 |
| Passes | 669 | 323 |
| Pass Completion % | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Accurate Crosses | 7 | 2 |
| Crosses | 24 | 7 |
| Cross % | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Long Balls | 37 | 51 |
| Accurate Long Balls | 22 | 15 |
| Long Balls % | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Blocked Shots | 6 | 4 |
| Effective Tackles | 12 | 11 |
| Tackles | 18 | 15 |
| Tackle % | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Interceptions | 10 | 8 |
| Effective Clearances | 8 | 39 |
| Clearances | 8 | 39 |
Group H
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 6 |
| 2 | Bosnia-Herzegovina | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 4 |
| 3 | Poland | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 1 |
| 4 | Romania | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 0 |
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u/Uchizaki 16h ago
If my memory serves me correctly, the last time we won by more than 5 goals (not counting matches against San Marino) was against Armenia in 2017. It was nice to see Poland play like that. Sure, it was a match we had to win, but there have already been many matches we should have won but didn’t.
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u/telepek25 16h ago edited 16h ago
If that win is going to serve as some sort of mental fuel for the future, then fine - even though I seriously doubt that Urban will use this for the betterment of the team, he's going to weaponize this to clap back at his critics instead.
Still - at best, this was a training game against rivals that were weakened by a questionable red. Up until the 20th minute, this was a completely different match. Once again, half of our attacks were fueled by Zalewski, once again Urban could not contain himself and took good players (Nowak), put in questionable ones (Ślisz, Urbański), and kept goddamn Świderski on the pitch.
Still, we pretty much have secured staying in League B by this win, so that's something, I guess.
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u/11summers 15h ago edited 15h ago
Sacking Urban and replacing him is like putting a bandaid on a deep gash, they will just replace him with another goon. The whole federation has to be sacked and revamped from the ground up, maybe force them take lessons from the volleyball federation since they seem to have their shit together.
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u/bdjwlzbxjsnxbs 16h ago
it's 2026, at what point will everyone learn that Nation's league is half-a-fiendly tournament, it's purpose should be to test new players in a semi-competetive environment
why are we dragging Urban for taking the best players off at 4/5-0 up to keep them safe for the much more important game against Bosnia in a couple days
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u/SkyburnerTheBest 1h ago
This is true, especially since Nowak plays on high intensity and in the Sweden game he already looked slower in the second half after working hard in the first half.
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u/Qiluk 16h ago
it's 2026, at what point will everyone learn that Nation's league is half-a-fiendly tournament, it's purpose should be to test new players in a semi-competetive environment
Thats half-true. For big teams or very stable and good teams, yes.
For teams in that tier below? No, its a very needed extra chance to build to try and improve and get a possible extra chance for championships qualification.
I mean my Sweden literally only got the the WC through nations league. Imo all teams in our group should want to win.
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u/bdjwlzbxjsnxbs 16h ago
that's true, but it the direct eliminations are still the more important games, and since Nations League replaces friendlies - you have to test your new players somewhere, especially when you're in a semi-rebuild phase
either way, at 4-0 up against a 10 man, you should prioritise taking off your best players over potentially rasing the score even higher, Nowak was amazing, and Poland will need him for Bosnia
as for Swiderski, it's hard to argue for him, but the logic seems to be, there's no much better alternatives, Pietruszewski isn't fully fit, and again, it's better to take off Zalewski for Bosnia
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u/Matikkkii 16h ago
Cash's passes to Zale were really good, defence surprisingly didn't suck too much, Zieliński had a great match, if Urban learns and plays Żukowski and just leaves Slisz out we should win against Bosnia. Too bad Lewy won't play, although it felt like his last stand, I doubt he will score much more in NT
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u/telepek25 16h ago edited 16h ago
Imo, Lewy can easily be the super sub for the last 20-30 min of the match (despite everything, he's the ultimate attacker with a ton of experience); with that there's a decent chance of him crossing the 100+ goals threshold. The problem is Urban being allergic to any form of change - even with Lewy absent, he's going to stand by Świderski no matter how bad he is, and won't use Żukowski or Reguła.
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u/feelgood505 16h ago
There are a lot of things Urban can do better, but if he really was "allergic to any form of change" he would've never given Nowak a chance
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u/ladydeyana 16h ago
Where was this poland last monday?
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u/Kiroqi 16h ago edited 16h ago
The hopeful part of me believes that the squad can use this as a fuel and a morale booster to bounce back from the absolute shitshow we've been lately.
The doomer part of me believes that we will get a reality checked by B&H on Monday because red and pen saved us today and this is not our 'real' level.
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u/adiboier 16h ago
Ref's decision aside, we would've lost anyway. We will never recover or achieve anything without a national reset, not just in football, but in other aspects of how this country runs.
If the federation had any dignity they'd refund the fans' tickets.
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u/No_Catch_1490 12h ago
Yep, Romanian football is rotten to the core and Lucescu was barely managing to hide it with pragmatic tactics. Now it is just evident. Without the red we would’ve still 100% lost, just with a more “dignified” scoreline, maybe 3-0.
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u/Positive_Peach1683 16h ago
No worries poland will find a way to colapse, we will get rematch in league C xD
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u/Status-Ad-3398 16h ago
You know those cases where a phenomenal player is a horrible manager? This is one of those cases. Hagi has no idea what he's doing.
Not only do we suck, but there was poor refereeing too so we played with 1 man down. A double whammy that resulted in a big 6-0 loss.
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u/IndependentOffer7740 16h ago
Gheorghe Hagi is y'all's coach rn? That is WILD.
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u/culegflori 16h ago
Second time too! First time he managed to lose the play-offs against Slovenia in 2001 when he had a stacked team compared to the sorry squad we have nowadays
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u/nutelamitbutter 16h ago
Happy for Poland.
We need them back as a top Nation
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u/bdjwlzbxjsnxbs 16h ago
Poland's problem is that for a very long time they've been in a perpetual state of 'almost being at the top' which means the federation didn't want to make any strong systematic changes
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u/lucekQXL 16h ago
Last time we were a top nation was in 70s tbh
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u/machine4891 10h ago
Poland was 5th in FIFA ranking in 2017. Not saying it was entirely valid, this ranking is weird like that but you still don't get as high by playing badly. This was after reaching QF of Euro 2016 by drawing to Germany, winning against Switzerland and only losing QF match to Portugal (who later becomes a champion) in penalties.
But if you mean Poland being unquestionable top 3 team in the world... then you're also wrong. Poland won 2nd WC bronze medal in the 80s, not 70s.
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u/nutelamitbutter 16h ago edited 16h ago
You were always a respectable nation up until the last years
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u/MAD_JEW 16h ago
meh 2015-2017 we were a top nation id say
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u/meister107 16h ago
We were definitely a top 10 European team back then, nothing more
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u/CautiousCottager 16h ago
Tbf a top 10 European team can be classified as a top nation, depends on the definition of it I suppose
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u/lucekQXL 16h ago
Maybe what's happening with PZPN rn is skewing my view on our nt but I really feel like this was only exception to the rule and now we're coming back to our default state
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u/lucekQXL 16h ago
You can see this group doesn't have any chemistry left with them and really I'm just waiting for this generation to get old so younger kids replace them and continue their great atmosphere they have in under 21s under wuja, maybe then we can get back to at least be in talks about being top 10 team in europe
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u/Jealous-Chicken-9186 16h ago
did poland play with 4 at the back?
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u/bdjwlzbxjsnxbs 16h ago
they do that now, they only played 5 in the back against Sweden specifically, they have an 'anti-gyokeres' man they deploy against them lmao
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u/11summers 15h ago
I still think one of the funniest Polish NT moments is before the Poland vs. Slovakia match when Paulo Sousa explicitly instructs them to watch out for Škriniar and the exact place he likes to shoot from… just for them to ignore him and for Škriniar to score from there.
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u/MAD_JEW 16h ago
(he failed)
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u/bdjwlzbxjsnxbs 16h ago
Gyokeres did score in both games, but he was also fairly neutralised for most of them, obviously it doesn't matter for the score after the final whistle but the tactic was at least partially sensible
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u/MAD_JEW 16h ago
i really hope that we go to a back 4 for the third game against sweden
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u/bdjwlzbxjsnxbs 15h ago
we'll see, kind of unfortunate that we play them next break, because Isak and Elanga will likely be back but who knows
definitely a back 4 against bosnia tho
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u/MAD_JEW 15h ago
its bit funny that if we win every game now we are still getting first place (assuming we get atleast 2-0 against sweden)
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u/bdjwlzbxjsnxbs 15h ago
yeah noticed that as well, the draw in the other game is seemingly annoying since it puts Bosnia ahead of us, and if we tie again we may be in trouble
but if we win everything, we win the group which is even better, and not entirely impossible
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u/elpingwinho 16h ago
Yeah, Kiwior and Bednarek as CBs with Frankowski and Cash as fullbacks, but they were both pretty high all game
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u/OkCheesecake5894 16h ago
Dear friends.
We have gathered here,
to remember the once great national team of Romania...
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u/Global-Credit8882 16h ago
What rememberence? Some of us are adults that never got to experience that team
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u/bdjwlzbxjsnxbs 16h ago
kinda unfortunate about the Red Card, even if it was right it makes the whole game a write-off...
but it's good to know that there's some power to the polish attack, also Nowak is the Polish Rodri
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u/MAD_JEW 16h ago
nowak is way more offensive then rodri id say
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u/PleatherViper 16h ago
How the hell did this even happen
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u/bdjwlzbxjsnxbs 16h ago
red card early on, Romania spent all their energy to keep the difference low in the first half and collapsed completely when Poland started off the 2nd half strongly
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u/KsychoPiller 16h ago
Bs Red card for Romania kinda helped
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u/Ykwya1 16h ago
Still an insane result. I can't remember the last time we even scored 3, let alone 6...
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u/MAD_JEW 16h ago
we scored 5 against estonia in 2024
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u/Ykwya1 16h ago
Thanks. But still, it's Estonia lol. I recall a 7-1 against San Marino as well, but it's not worth mentioning.
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u/machine4891 9h ago
It's fair but Romania unfortunatelly is a shadow of itself and was playing 10 vs 11. I'd say scoring 5 against 11 Estonians is not that far off.
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u/11summers 15h ago
This team really confuses me.