PZPN

It is easy to come to terms with some defeats in which the opponent is clearly better. The one against Germany is not one of those.

Of course, we lost 1:3, but I think everyone who saw the game can safely say that we didn't necessarily deserve to lose. A defeat by two goals indicates the domination of one team, while from the number of chances created it looked like we should have at least tied this match, or rather won it. We played a great first half and that was the key to success. We didn't take advantage of our fast attacks, and we had a lot of them, we could have had a couple of one-on-one opportunities which would have sealed the result. We didn't take advantage of that, then we lost an accidental goal, the Germans got motivated, and we ended up losing.

Until the 55th minute this match was going brilliantly, until the 70th minute still quite well. What happened at the end?

The plan for the match worked out in its entirety, which was evident in the first half, even the coach of the German team was impressed and it was not a courtesy on his part. We helped the rivals to win. We made a simple loss of the ball at the 1:1 goal, then we lost a goal after a shot from distance. In the end we already got tired. We worked hard early in the match, the Germans achieved their result and maintained it.

In the first half, you beat the Germans at their own game.

That's why I have respect for the lads. No one is happy to lose because everyone wants to win. We came here with that attitude and I think it was visible. If we were ahead 3-0 after the first half, I don't think anyone in the home team would have any complaints.

Despite the defeat, can you draw any positives from this match?

There are a lot of positives. We will certainly analyse this match and present the conclusions to the team. We played against a very good team and you couldn't see any difference between us and the German team. We were executing the objectives, we were creating chances, we just lacked the final pass or finish. We have nothing to be ashamed of, but we know what we need to improve. First and foremost, effectiveness. Without it, we won't be able to win against anyone, especially a good team. We leave Germany with our heads held high and continue to fight for first place in the group.

We are at the halfway point of the qualifiers, after five matches Poland has 12 points. Not a bad starting position for an attempt to qualify.

The situation is good, whereas if we had won today it would have been fantastic. The team is certainly suffering. I can see that they were heavily affected by the defeat because they didn't feel they were worse than their opponents. We have to continue our work in the second half of the qualifiers.

Interviewed in Essen by Szymon Tomasik