PZPN

Before kick-off, the crowd gathered at the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium witnessed a special ceremony. As part of the PZPN cooperation with the Veterans’ Centre, the national anthems were performed by the military band from Bytom under the baton of Captain Krystian Siwek. Earlier, soldiers had also carried the Polish flag onto the pitch. Furthermore, Piotr Zieliński , who played his 100th match for the Polish senior national team against the Netherlands on Thursday, was recognised. To mark the occasion, he was presented with a commemorative shirt by PZPN president Cezary Kulesza and the association’s General Secretary, Łukasz Wachowski.

After a successful debut, headcoach Jan Urban decided not to make any changes to the starting line-up from three days ago. The same eleven players took to the pitch, though this time set up differently in attack – with Nicola Zalewski and Sebastian Szymański as wingers, Matty Cash and Jakub Kiwior on the flanks of the defence, and Jakub Kamiński supporting Robert Lewandowski, often playing alongside him. In defence, the Poles lined up in a 1-5-3-2 formation, with Zalewski becoming the fifth defender.

It did not take long for the first chance. Within seconds, after a long pass and a clever flicked header from Kamiński, Szymański sprinted down the right flank. The Fenerbahçe midfielder cut into the box and passed to Lewandowski. The captain failed to connect properly and the ball ran to Zalewski, who struck first time but wildly off target.

In the 8th minute, following a superb free-kick delivery from Szymański, Przemysław Wiśniewski came within inches of scoring his first goal for a national team, only for Jesse Joronen to produce a fine reflex save. The Finns, who also tried to build attacks with short passes from their own goal, were unable to respond to the chances created by the Polish national team. In fact, they even found it difficult to carry play into the opposition half.

Players coached by Urban remained patient and, after one long spell of possession and a switch of play from Cash, Zalewski cut inside and looked set to shoot. This time, he was blocked and the ball went out for a corner. The same happened in the 23rd minute after an attempt by Cash, who was inspired by his goal against the Netherlands. As a result of the second corner, Poland remained in possession of the ball, and after another cross by Zieliński, it rebounded off one of the opponents, narrowly missing the Finnish goalpost.

Moments later, Poland finally broke the deadlock. Kiwior’s through ball towards Kamiński was intercepted, but the Köln midfielder quickly stole it back, surged into the box and pulled back smartly for the unmarked Cash. The fans gathered at the stadium already knew what this meant – the Aston Villa defender struck sweetly to give Poland the lead. 

The game then slowed down somewhat, until the 37th minute when a clearance dropped to Szymański, who unleashed a fierce volley. Although straight at the keeper, the power and suddenness forced Joronen into an awkward save. Within a minute Finland finally reached the Polish penalty area, but no one managed to get on the end of a dangerous ball across goal.

Just when it looked like Poland would go into the break only one up, Zieliński picked out Lewandowski with a perfectly weighted pass. The captain timed his run to perfection and calmly slotted home one-on-one.

At half-time, Cash was replaced by Paweł Wszołek, who had begun his warm-up shortly before the break. Despite the comfortable scoreline, Poland stuck to their approach, dominating possession. Yet their third goal came from a counter. Lewandowski and Kamiński broke forward together, with the latter slipping the ball into the captain, who unleashed a fierce left-foot shot. Joronen parried, but Kamiński was quickest to react and tucked away the rebound.

After this goal, not much happened for the next few minutes. In the 63rd minute, Kaan Kairinen tried his luck from distance, but his shot was well off target. Soon after, Urban made a triple substitution: Lewandowski, Zalewski and Bartosz Slisz made way for Karol Świderski, Kamil Grosicki and Bartosz Kapustka. From then on, Poland switched to a back four – as it would be hard to imagine Grosicki operating as a wing-back. The experienced winger immediately looked to attack and soon he tried his luck from outside the penalty area. His low shot was off target.

In the following minutes, Grosicki attempted several crosses or passes into the box, though none found their mark. In the closing stages, Finland managed to pull one back through Benjamin Källman, but it proved no more than a consolation.

Thanks to the victory, Poland have collected 10 points after five matches and is second in Group G. Finland is three points behind us and has a much worse goal difference (–2 compared to Poland’s +4). 

7 September 2025, Chorzów
Poland 3–1 Finland (HT: 2–0)
Goals: Matty Cash 27, Robert Lewandowski 45, Jakub Kamiński 54 – Benjamin Källman 88.
Poland: 1. Łukasz Skorupski - 2. Matty Cash (46, 16. Paweł Wszołek), 3. Przemysław Wiśniewski, 5. Jan Bednarek, 14. Jakub Kiwior, 21. Nicola Zalewski (67, 11. Kamil Grosicki) - 20. Sebastian Szymański, 17. Bartosz Slisz (68, 8. Bartosz Kapustka), 10. Piotr Zieliński, 13. Jakub Kamiński (80, 15. Adam Buksa) - 9. Robert Lewandowski (67, 7. Karol Świderski).
Finland: 1. Jesse Joronen - 17. Nikolai Alho, 2. Matti Peltola (64, 13. Adam Ståhl), 15. Miro Tenho (35, 4. Robert Ivanov), 5. Ville Koski, 18. Jere Uronen - 8. Robin Lod (80, 16. Santeri Väänänen), 14. Kaan Kairinen, 11. Adam Marchijew (64, 6. Glen Kamara), 7. Oliver Antman (64, 19. Benjamin Källman) - 20. Joel Pohjanpalo.
Yellow card: Wiśniewski.
Referee: Rade Obrenovič (Slovenia).