This is how the Swedes “welcomed” the Poles. Nervous atmosphere in the stands!
Tightly packed stands of the Strawberry Arena in Solno. Unfortunately, the Swedish stands welcomed the Polish national football team in an inelegant way.
A few days ago, there was a big clash during the match at the PGE National Stadium, which we wrote about in WPROST. The Albanian anthem was booed and booed before the start of the match in Warsaw.
A similar situation, only in the opposite direction, occurred during the performance of “Mazurek Dąbrowski” at the Strawberry Arena. At the stadium, where the AIK Solna club usually performs, there was no shortage of whistles and boos – this time from Swedish fans.
Interestingly, around 50,000 fans appeared in the stands. According to reports from Polish journalists, there may be as many as 5,000 fans of the Polish national team, which is much more than originally expected.
The Polish national team’s patent for the play-offs! The last few years have been a real show off
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, the Poles started the play-offs under the leadership of coach Jan Urban. It started very promisingly, with a valuable 2-1 victory over Albania at the PGE Narodowy. Thanks to the win in the semi-final, the Poles had to face the Swedes away for a direct trip – this time to the 2026 World Cup.
