When the Poland squad was announced last week, one of the big surprises was the omission of Mateusz Klich, currently at Leeds United.
While he hasn’t played a lot at Elland Road this season, the player has always remained an important part of his country’s set up.
The 32-year-old has 41 caps to his name, and it was believed that his experience would be enough to get the Leeds player into the squad, but it wasn’t to be.
The fact that he hasn’t started a game under Jesse Marsch certainly won’t have helped him, and his age will have played against him.
However, the view from Poland is a bit different, and one of the people they are blaming for this is Leeds’ American manager.
Przegląd Sportowy have a big article, via their columnist Kamil Kosowski, analysing those who have gone to Qatar and those who have missed out.
He names the Leeds player ‘the biggest absentee in the Polish team’, and adds that ‘when Jesse Marsch took over, he promised Klich that he would play him’, and while the ‘prospects were fine, the reality was brutal’.
He then points out the player got his first cap for his country in 2011, but missed out on the 2012 and 2016 Euros, as well as the 2018 World Cup, only participating in one tournament, with that being the delayed 2020 Euros.
Now, he will miss the 2022 World Cup, which would have likely been his last chance at a big international tournament.
