Euro 2024: Poland Captain Lewandowski Misses Opener Against the Netherlands
In the highly anticipated Euro 2024 match-up between Poland and the Netherlands, Poland will be without their star striker and captain Robert Lewandowski due to a muscle injury. The exciting teenage talent Kacper Urbanski is set to start in his place.
Ronald Koeman, the Netherlands manager, has opted for Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen in goal over Brentford’s Mark Flekken, while Inter Milan’s Stefan de Vrij gets the nod over some more celebrated central defenders.
Poland’s Possible Lineup
3-4-2-1 formation:
- Szczesny
- Salamon, Bednarek, Kiwior
- Frankowski, Zielinski, Romanczuk, Zalewski
- Urbanski, S Szymanski
- Buksa
The Netherlands’ Possible Lineup
4-2-3-1 formation:
- Verbruggen
- Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake
- Schouten, Veerman
- Simons, Reijnders, Gakpo
- Depay
Referee Artur Soares Dias (Portugal) will oversee the match, which kicks off at 2pm.
Ahead of the game, Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman acknowledged that his side needs to improve in several areas to compete with the top teams at Euro 2024.
“We really know that we need to improve in a number of areas to compete with the other top countries,” he said.
Poland, on the other hand, are not expected to advance from a “group of death” that also features France and Austria. However, manager Czeslaw Probierz has a safety-first approach, and the team’s low expectations have often worked in their favor in the past.
In other Euro 2024 news, there has been a major incident in the Reeperbahn area of Hamburg, where Dutch fans were gathering before the game. A man was shot after threatening police with an axe and an “incendiary device”; he has been taken to hospital and the Reeperbahn has been closed to fans.
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