Summertime...see you in August

I guess you should always look at the bright side. Wojciech Szczesny, 21-year-old goalie, a near-future the best goalie in the world, has taken full advantage of the Boruc-Smuda rift. Boruc, to me and many Polish fans, is a world-class goalie. But Szczesny, whom I picked last year already to be the next best thing, is closing in on the title pretty fast.

A soccer team is built like a house. First you need a solid base, namely a defense. A goalie is at the center of it. Poland already has its rock. His name is Wojciech Szczesny. Now onto the defenders. I will have a new lineup, a bit different from the last year. The two center back should be: Perquis (Pole to be) and Wasilewski. Strangely, neither of them has yet to play for Mr Smuda. Perquis- because he is still waiting to obtain his Polish passport; Wasilewski- the rock under Leo Beenhakker reign has been recovering from the tragic injury (some psycho broke his leg, split bones in fact. horrible!). He played as right full back but he plays at Anderlecht as center defender. He is a definition of a tough guy. Those two would be great together. Piszczek on the right and Wawrzyniak (or Boenisch if he also recovers from injury) on the left. The current players- Wojtkowiak, Jodlowiec, Glik- are nice backups.

Midfield becomes tricky. There are several names for the 5 players to use (Smuda uses 4-2-3-1 system). Two defensive ones could be Matuszczyk and Dudek or Murawski. I would actually use only one defensive players and two forwards. Matuszczyk is a lock, the other ones are not. Left belongs to Mierzejewski, right to captain Blaszczykowski and offensive midfielder is Obraniak. But here is a key: a couple of new names, whose talent will hopefully explode in the next 12 months, might make a difference between a good team and a great one. A lone forward is Lewandowski, who should have a partner in Brozek or Malecki or Sobiech. Obraniak with Matuszczyk are enough in the middle, Mr Smuda. This is, so far, a good Polish team.

But only a great team goes all the way.

There are no real superstars playing for Poland. Yet. The hope is that, as usual, stars will be revealed at the biggest stage. EURO 2012 must provide a couple of stars from the Polish team to succeed. That means to win the cup. I guess reaching semis will be titled by many as a successful campaign for Poland. But I play for a true title. Always and against anybody. That's the real success.

European championship is that prize. Go get it Polish Eagles!