FRIENDLY | Lech Poznań – Pogoń Szczecin 0:1

A day after the Saturday friendly match against Widzew Łódź (1:2), Lech’s squad learned the name of their new coach. On Monday, the club bus, with John van den Brom on board, left for the training camp in Opalenica. That’s where Lech’s players are preparing for the upcoming season which kicks off on July 5^th with a Champions League qualifier against Qarabag. However, before the squad faces the Azerbaijan team, they are an intense training camp to complete. One of the trip’s most important highlights was the friendly clash with Pogoń Szczecin which was also the new coach’s (unofficial) debut.

For Jens Gustafsson who only recently took over the team from Szczecin, it was also the first chance to see his new squad in action. Therefore, on Thursday afternoon, we not only saw the gold and bronze medalists of last year’s Polish Championship but also two teams which are about to start a new chapter.

The match had a different, unusual format – 3 x 30 minutes. Lech’s team dominated the opening minutes of the game and easily found ways to come close to Pogoń’s goal. Maksymilian Pingot, Lech’s youth player, was an active playmaker and was often seen on Pogoń’s half of the pitch, which in one case resulted in a great goal-scoring opportunity for Joao Amaral. However, the Portuguese failed to convert a great pass from Adriel Ba Loua and sent the ball off target.

Gradually, Lech lost the advantage over their opponent but neither of the sides was particularly effective with their offensive attempts until, in the 29^th minute, Sebastian Kowalczyk’s impressive shot from outside the box left Filip Bednarek helpless. It was the only shot on target in the first part of the match.

In the second part of the game, neither of the sides had many goal-scoring opportunities. Coach van den Brom decided to make two substitutions in the 46^th minute. Artur Sobiech who came in from the bench could have changed the score, but he failed to convert Amaral’s precise long ball into an equalizer.

Numerous new players appeared on the pitch in the last 30 minutes, among them youngsters Patryk Olejnik, Igor Kornobis, Patryk Gogołow, and Antoni Kozubal, the last of whom replaced Filip Marchwiński an hour into the match. Lech was determined to breach Pogoń’s defensive line and Michał Skóraś’s individual run could have resulted in just that, but none of his teammates managed to tap the ball into the net.

Not long after, Skóraś came close to scoring himself but this time it was Pogoń’s keeper that intervened. Just before the final whistle, on the other end of the pitch, Artur Rudko had to show his skills – he intervened successfully and saved Lech from conceding another goal.

Lech Poznań – Pogoń Szczecin 0:1 (0:1, 0:1)

Goals: (29.)

Lech Poznań: Filip Bednarek (46. Artur Rudko) – Joel Pereira (61. Igor Kornobis), Antonio Milić (61. Alan Czerwiński), Maksymilian Pingot (61. Patryk Olejnik), Pedro Rebocho (61. Barry Douglas) – Adriel Ba Loua (61. Kristoffer Velde), Radosław Murawski (61. Patryk Gogół), Filip Marchwiński (58. Antoni Kozubal), Jan Sýkora (61. Michał Skóraś) - Joao Amaral (61. Dani Ramirez) – Filip Szymczak (46. Artur Sobiech)

Pogoń Szczecin (starting line-up): Dante Stipica - Jakub Bartkowski, Kostas Triantafyllopoulos, Benedikt Zech, Luis Mata - Damian Dąbrowski, Jean Carlos Silva, Kamil Drygas, Sebastian Kowalczyk, Mariusz Fornalczyk - Luka Zahović