Sousa believes in Poland: 'I want the round of 16'

In January he started "a process" of growth for the national team of Poland and tomorrow evening Paulo Sousa will be able to draw a first significant balance after his debut in the European Championship against Slovakia.

"In every moment of the match we want to be protagonists, we have worked on this in our process. But if you look in the dictionary, the process has a beginning but it never ends", smiled the former Juventus and Inter midfielder, who not even six months ago did he start his new adventure as a coach after a tour of Europe on the bench that also led him to the helm of Fiorentina.

    "The goal is to overcome the group: this is a key match", predicts the Portuguese Sousa, who does not hide the weight of the absence of Milik and Piatek, but can always count on Lewandowski's experience and on various talents, including very young ones. like Kacper Kozlowski, a midfielder who if he were to take the field would become the youngest ever fielded in a European championship, overtaking the Englishman Jude Bellingham, who just made his debut at 17 years and 349 days.

    The testing ground is a team with several players who know Serie A well. Starting with Milan Skriniar, who followed with anguish the dramatic illness of Christian Eriksen, his teammate at Inter. "It was terrible, now I am happy that he is well and I think he will be back on the pitch as soon as possible," said the defender, one of the key players in Slovakia along with Juraj Kucka and captain Marek Hamsik, who recovered from a calf injury. "I'm fine, I'm fit and ready to play. A good result for us? Don't lose," said the former Napoli midfielder, on the eve of the match in St. Petersburg, where, however, the two national teams were unable to finish. , as was ordered by UEFA to avoid ruining the field.

    The Slovaks trained on the Zenit field, and the Poles remained in Gdansk for swabs (all negative, said team manager Jakub Kwiatkowski) and finishing, then in Russia they were welcomed by hundreds of compatriots. "All the Poles - underlined Sousa - want to be proud of us: in everything we do on the pitch we must have the right attitude and courage".