Football: Poland rev up training ahead of World Cup

The players will spend more than a week training at Arłamów, a mountain resort in southeastern Poland.

Before the camp ends on June 7, manager Adam Nawałka will announce a list of 23 players who will go to the tournament in Russia.

The Poles spent last week recharging their batteries at a low-intensity camp in the coastal resort of Jurata in the north of Poland.

Nawałka earlier this month named a preliminary 35-man squad for the tournament. He later whittled down the squad to 32 players.

On June 2, Nawałka’s men will play a match among themselves at Arłamów that will have “a decisive influence on who is selected” for the final 23-man lineup, the Poland manager told a news conference on Monday.

The game will be refereed by Szymon Marciniak, a Pole who is among 36 referees from various countries who have been chosen to officiate matches in Russia, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.

Nawałka is due to name the final 23-man lineup for the World Cup on June 5.

Poland have booked their place at this year’s World Cup in Russia and will play two friendly matches at home ahead of the championships. They will face off against Chile in the western city of Poznań on June 8 and play Lithuania at the National Stadium in Warsaw on June 12.

The World Cup kicks off on June 14 and runs until July 15. Poland take on Senegal, Colombia and Japan in the group stage of the tournament.

During the team's meeting with President Andrzej Duda last week, Nawałka said that the national squad wanted to “achieve the best result possible ... but we do not intend to make any promises” because “there are no weak players” in the World Cup.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP