"I need more minutes"

The Polish U-21 squad spent the past days on a training camp in Pinatar, Spain, where they also played two sparring games. First, the Poles beat lower-ranked Saudi Arabia 7:0, and then lost to Austria 0:2. In both games, coach Stolarczyk named Jakub Kamiński a part of starting line-up. “Saudi Arabia didn’t set the bar high for us – it was more of an opportunity to test the formation with three defenders and how it’s going to work with different players. In the second game, we made two mistakes when defending set-pieces and lost to Austria. However, it was a valuable lesson to us – after all, Austria is on a similar level to us; during the Euro qualification group draw, they were in the same pot as Poland,” said Kamiński.

In Autumn, the U-21 squad is going to begin qualification for European Championship. The Poles were placed in the group with Hungary, Israel, Latvia, San Marino and Germany. The first qualification matches are scheduled for September – the first one is an away clash with Latvia, and then a game with Israel. “It’s a tough group where none of the teams is going to go down without a fight. We will have to work very hard to qualify for European Championship,” emphasised the winger.

The Polish squad prefers to play with three defenders and oscillating wingers, hence it's no surprise that Kamiński is a key figure in coach Stolarczyk’s team. “For me, it’s a perfect position because it enables me to run a lot and since I am fast, I can make use of my skills and endurance. With every next match that we play with this formation, we are going to improve as a team and it’s going to look better and better,” highlighted the Academy player who travelled to Spain together with two other teammates, Filip Szymczak and Filip Marchwiński. Moreover, coach Stolarczyk’s assistant Marcin Kardela is also a known figure at Lech. “We have known the coach for a while now. We worked together in the 16-17 age categories and he’s an important figure to us,” added Kamiński.

In the clashes with Saudi Arabia and Austria, Jakub Kamiński spent a total of 118 minutes on the pitch, but the player doesn’t seem to be complaining about lack of rest. On Saturday, his club will travel to Cracow to face Cracovia in the league, and the winger expressed his eagerness to compete in the upcoming Ekstraklasa match. “I feel very well physically. My performances are gradually improving but I need more minutes to get back to my best. I can see that my other teammates have been working hard during this international break – now it’s time for us to take all this hard work and convert it into a great performance against Cracovia,” summarised the winger.