nationalpost.com
PARIS — Knowing Cristiano Ronaldo, he’ll probably take Adam Nawalka’s reluctance to mention him as some kind of slight.
Poland’s manager said Wednesday night he preferred not to talk about the Real Madrid star, adding Portugal, as a team, poses a bigger threat overall.
Perhaps Nawalka just didn’t want to be another parrot, offering the same old pre-match statements about one of the greatest players of a generation. Either that, or he hasn’t been paying attention.
“I don’t even want to mention Cristiano Ronaldo, who’s one of the best in the world,” Nawalka said in Marseille on Wednesday. “Football is a team game. No one player can decide the outcome of a match.”
He’s wrong, of course. Portugal’s sixth straight appearance in a Euro quarter-final has nothing to do with Portugal, the team. Ronaldo’s literally the only reason they’re still in this thing. Period.
The left post inside Parc des Princes is the only think keeping Ronaldo from the Golden Boot lead. Never mind the fact he single-handedly carried Portugal through a must-not-lose match against Hungary, scoring twice.
If this is Ronaldo in decline. Poland doesn’t want to see him in-form. That’s Nawalka’s conundrum. An open game favours a Portuguese side that prefers to get out and run. It’s how they knocked off Croatia to get this far.
“Portugal have top class players throughout their team and we have to also focus on them,” Nawalka said. “But what is clear is, when they recover possession, they counter very well. They’re a dangerous team.”
If you’re Nawalka, though, you’ll likely regret not pursuing an open match given Poland boasts arguably the best pure striker in the world. Robert Lewandowski has yet to be heard from in this tournament.
Some of that undoubtedly has to do with Nawalka’s tactics, at times. The Poles packed it in during a group stage draw with Germany and did the same after taking an early lead against Switzerland last round.
The fact Lewandowski has been fouled more times than anyone at this Euro has compounded the issue. Switzerland’s Fabian Schar’s merciless challenge on Lewandowski last round threatened to end his tournament.
“Given that he’s one of the best strikers, he’s been marked tightly — double and triple teams,” Nawalka said of the Bayern Munich player. “They are attacking him all the time. But he has prepared well. Physically, he’s coping.
“The referees should be paying attention to some brutal fouls in order to eliminate situations when an opponent is trying to literally eliminate, at any cost, a particular player from the play.”
Polish winger Jakub Błaszczykowski has stolen away most of the attention, scoring a match-winner against Ukraine before adding another against Switzerland. His pace and late runs in behind opposing back lines open space for Lewandowski to operate. As well, the on-loan Borussia Dortmund attacker has been a magnet at this tournament. The ball finds him in good areas and he’s been able to finish in important moments.
Still, we’ve yet to see this Polish side truly open up over the course of 90 minutes, perhaps because their back line — marshaled by Premier League target Michal Pazdan — has been a marquee feature.
Holding Germany to a goalless draw lends hope that the White Eagles can withstand the marauding runs of both Nani and Ronaldo, who in transition will pose a threat assuming Nawalka’s Poland doesn’t sit back.
“It’s going to be a very balanced game,” Portuguese manager Fernando Santos said. “From what I’ve seen, Poland doesn’t resemble the teams we’ve faced so far. It’s a very strong opponent. They’re well organized.
“They’re very good defensively but have good players. They go from defence to attack very fast. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes. They have individually good players and they can make a difference.”
Like Lewandowski, though Santos laughed off Nawalka’s notion that Poland’s star attraction needs to be protected from further abuse. The same can said of Ronaldo, who is also among the leaders in fouls suffered.
Somewhat surprisingly, Santos fielded a question regarding his leading man. He’d scorned foreign media for its previous inquires concerning Ronado’s form — and antics — at this tournament.
He’s been like Nawalka in that way, refusing talk about the tournament’s best player. Until now, the moment before the biggest game for Portugal since crashing out of the World Cup.
“Everybody is talking about Ronaldo,” Santos said. “There’s a reason for that. Why does everyone talk about this? Because he’s an amazing player. People only talk a lot about great players.
“There’s hundreds of players here and we don’t talk about them every day. But it’s normal to talk about players as good as Ronaldo or Lewandowski. It’s natural that some are mentioned more often than others.”
After Thursday’s match, Santos hopes both men will continue to be mentioned. With his guy ending on top.
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