Torino's Karol Linetty, right in action during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Torino vs. Sampdoria at the Olimpico Grande Torino Stadium, in Turin, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)Poland manager Czeslaw Michniewicz left out Torino midfielder Karol Linetty from his 26-man squad for the World Cup in Qatar, which he named on Thursday.
The 27-year-old midfielder has earned 42 caps for Poland since making his debut in 2014, but Michniewicz found no room for him in the squad due to fierce competition.
Other experienced players missing include Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Jakub Moder, who is out with an injury, and defender Maciej Rybus who was dropped from the Poland squad after joining Russian club Spartak Moscow in June.
There had been speculation that Michniewicz would name four goalkeepers but he opted for three, leaving out FC Copenhagen’s Kamil Grabara and Cercle Brugge’s Radoslaw Majecki.
The tournament will be Poland’s ninth World Cup finals appearance after they failed to make it out of their group in Russia four years ago.
Poland, who were drawn in Group C for Qatar, open their World Cup campaign against Mexico on Nov. 22, before matches against Saudi Arabia and Argentina.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus), Bartlomiej Dragowski (Spezia), Lukasz Skorupski (Bologna)
Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Aston Villa), Kamil Glik (Benevento), Robert Gumny (FC Augsburg), Artur Jedrzejczyk (Legia Warsaw), Jakub Kiwior (Spezia), Mateusz Wieteska (Clermont), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria), Matty Cash (Aston Villa), Nicola Zalewski (AS Roma).
Midfielders: Krystian Bielik (Birmingham City), Przemyslaw Frankowski (Lens), Kamil Grosicki (Pogon Szczecin), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Al-Shabab), Jakub Kaminski (VfL Wolfsburg), Michal Skoras (Lech Poznan), Damian Szymanski (AEK Athens), Sebastian Szymanski (Feyenoord), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli), Szymon Zurkowski (Fiorentina).
Forwards: Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona), Arkadiusz Milik (Juventus), Krzysztof Piatek (Salernitana), Karol Swiderski (Charlotte FC) (Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk Editing by Toby Davis)