Polish representation. The end of Rafai Jekevich’s dreams about the team? Paulo Sousa left no illusions

The extensive list of players appointed to the October training camp for the Polish national team includes Wojciech Szczczyny of Juventus Turin, Lukasz Skorobski of Bologna, Bartomeg Drogowski of Fiorentina, and Chukas Fabianski, who ended his career in the national team. This means that Rafai Djekević, who has been ignored by coach Paulo Sousa since the start of his tenure, will not compete in the elimination match against San Marino and Albania. Does that mean that Jicky’s short adventure with the national team is over?

Souza recently traveled to Germany, where he visited Berlin and Augsburg. In Bavaria, he met not only with Robert Gumni, who won a place in the main team of Augsburg and thus found himself in the extensive list of invitees, but also with Jekevich.

During the conversation, the coach told the 33-year-old goalkeeper the reasons why he was not in the team. This is what Djekević relied on, especially that Jerzy Przycek had expressed earlier, and invited him to a training camp before the qualifying matches with North Macedonia and Israel. Recently, Jekevich spoke about meeting Souza in an interview with “Kannai Sportoy”.

– It took 15 minutes. He said kind of three points. What was his guiding principle, and what principles did he stick to (…) I told him the argument that I was getting old did not speak to me. I think this is a bad argument. He used one, and he has a right to it. Although I told him “see you soon”. We’ll see what life will bring – said the goalkeeper.

We asked Souza about the conversation with Jekevich. – I recently had the opportunity to speak with Rafai, because I believe that if someone expects respect, he should show it to others himself. I’ve never had a chance to meet him before, due to the coronavirus pandemic. I couldn’t go to Germany, England. Now I have this opportunity and I use it – he said.

He added: – So I spoke with Rifai and said what I think. Like I said before, I’ve been happy with the goalkeepers we’ve had with the national team since the previous coach. Łukasz Skorupski, Wojciech Szczęsny and Łukasz Fabiański gave us a good job. Taking into account the qualities of Rifai, I said how to look at him. It all coincided with what I saw in the match I watched in Germany, admitted Sousa, who was watching Augsburg’s 1-0 match live against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Sousa also revealed which goalkeepers are currently in his field of interest. It’s 22-year-old Kamel Grabara from Copenhavn, 21-year-old Radoslav Majici from Monaco and 24-year-old Bartomie Drogoski from Fiorentina.

I would like to renew the position of the goalkeeper and not maintain the same average age. I will do so in the near and distant future. We have the guards you mentioned and I’ll repeat that. These are Grabara, Majecki and Drągowski. For us in this age group, they are players who have to fight for a place in the team, and then to consolidate their position in it – Mukhtar said.

The full conversation with Paulo Sousa Watch on “Po Gwizdku” channel.

Sebastian Staszewski, Entrea