Jakub Kiwior was withdrawn at half-time of Poland’s match against Scotland after an error-ridden first half that drew criticism in his home country.
Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior has proven to be very popular on the international stage since his debut, starting 27 games in a row and playing all but three minutes of his first 26 internationals.
If you weren’t watching Poland’s game against Scotland on Thursday, you would be forgiven for thinking it was more of the same.
Poland were keeping a clean sheet at the break, and they led the match 2-0 with Kiwior in the lineup.
Yet the reality was that 24-year-old had a very difficult 45 minutes, and he was withdrawn at half-time to spare his blushes.
“If a defender doesn’t play regularly for his club, then he often looks like Jakub Kiwior in Glasgow,” Gazeta.pl wrote afterwards.
“That is, very bad. Kiwior played nervously from the start, made stupid fouls near the penalty area, [and] made easy mistakes when bringing the ball out.”
Polish outlet SUPERexpress asked: “What was that supposed to be? Mistake after mistake in the first half. After his errors, there was a real mess in front of the Polish goal.
“A downright disastrous performance, only thanks to luck we didn’t concede a few goals because of his mistakes.”
Meczyki added: “Very poor performance by Kiwior. He looked by far the worst of the trio of central defenders.
“If the opponents had been more effective, especially towards the end of the first half, they could have scored two goals after his mistakes. It was not without reason that he was replaced at half-time.”
Poland went on to win the match anyway, leaving Scotland with a 3-2 win and three points.
Whether we’re about to see Kiwior dropped for the first time since his debut remains to be seen, but he certainly had a bad night with his national team.
Poland face Croatia on Sunday, September 8th at 19:45 BST in the second game of their Nations League campaign.