It was a blow for the Polish national team! A disastrous mistake and a goal

After the first 45 minutes, it is hard to be satisfied with the way coach Jan Urban’s team played. Albania actually had to defend several times deeper against the hosts’ attacks from the very beginning. However, when it came to striking, the Albanians took advantage of the opportunity and opened the scoring.

Poland – Albania. Jan Bednarek’s mistake and silence at PGE Narodowy!

Arber Hoxha scored a goal to make it 1-0. The shot went into the net of Kamil Grabara’s goal in the 42nd minute of the match. So it was an additional, strong blow just before the break. A long play, bad reception of the ball by the mentioned defender who usually shines at FC Porto and… silence among Polish fans.

On the other hand, there was great joy among the visiting fans. It must be admitted that they were very loud at the stadium in Warsaw.

World Cup 2026: Poland is a play-off specialist. A good series for the Urban team

In recent years, Polish football players have become specialists in winning tickets to large tournaments, competing through the so-called a second, play-off chance. This series started with the previous World Cup that was played in Qatar (2022).

After excluding the Russians from the competition, who were the Polish team’s opponents, due to their brutal attack on Ukraine, Poland immediately played in the final against the Swedes. In Chorzów, after goals by Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zieliński, the team won a relatively certain 2-0. It was also a great success for the then coach Czesław Michniewicz. The Pole was brought in in an emergency after a stormy breakup between the Polish Football Association and the Portuguese Paulo Sousa.

Two years later, a similar story happened to the team led by Michał Probierz. Paradoxically, at that time the Pole was “cleaning up” after the Portuguese, when Fernando Santos had a disastrous term in Poland. Touchstone managed to lead the team to the Euro 2024 play-off zone. However, the Poles had to overcome two obstacles. It started with a high victory at the PGE Narodowy against Estonia (5:1) in the semi-final. In the play-off final, Poland defeated Wales in Cardiff after a series of penalties (0-0 in regular time and overtime). The hero of the match was goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny, who saved the decisive penalty in favor of the Poles.

For the third time in a row, Poles will enter the play-offs at the end of March this year. This time, coach Jan Urban took over the team during the qualifying rounds after Probierz’s unsuccessful campaign.

It is worth adding that coach Urban’s team has had a really good series. In the second half of 2025, since the former distinguished representative, participant of the World Cup (1986), has been leading the team, the Polish national team has not lost a match.

In September, there was a draw with the Netherlands in Rotterdam (1:1) and a victory against Finland (3:1) in Chorzów. In October, a win in a friendly match against New Zealand (1-0), a participant of the 2026 World Cup – again at the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium – and a qualifying victory against Lithuania (2-0) in Kaunas. And the last representative window, i.e. a November draw at the PGE Narodowy with the Dutch (1:1) and a slightly tired away victory over the much lower ranked Malta (3:2).