The new Poland Manager focuses on Lewandowski Return as a World Cup qualifications

The new manager of Poland Jan Urban said that his immediate priority was to persuade Robert Lewandowski to return to the national team.

Urban was named on Wednesday to replace Michal Probierz, who resigned in June after a row about his decision to replace Lewandowski as a captain.

Poland is third in his World Cup qualifying group behind Finland and the Netherlands, and the Barcelona attacker is generally seen as essential for his hope to reach next year’s tournament.

«I will do everything … so that Robert returns, because we know in which situation is Polish football,» Urban told reporters on Thursday.

Lewandowski, 36, is the top scorer of Poland of all time with 85 goals in 158 performances.

«From today we cannot afford to not have Robert in this team,» the new manager added.

Urban recognized the challenges of Poland, after a loss of 2-1 for Finland in June and in the midst of uncertainty around the role of Lewandowski.

«Above all, we are talking about this difficult moment, not because of the defeat against Finland. We have several problems to solve, including the issue of the resignation of Robert Lewandowski,» Urban said.

«All this must be solved well to build a good atmosphere for this team to function. We strive for a situation in which every player wants to come to the national team and feel good to be part of it.»

The next world cup qualification of Poland is gone against the Netherlands on 4 September before it organizes Finland three days later.