Widzew Łódź fans were already resigned to the fact that their team – despite winter transfers worth several million euros – would not achieve any success in the Ekstraklasa this season. However, they could still count on winning the Polish Cup. And he would guarantee participation in the dream European cups.
Widzew failed again. Drama until the break. Will Urban appoint Nowak?
It’s just that the people of Łódź don’t know how to play football. At least that’s the impression you get when watching the matches of Igor Jovicević’s team. For Widzew it was one of the most important matches until the end of the season, but the players from Łódź wandered around the pitch without any order or structure. It was completely different in the case of GKS Katowice, which knew exactly what it wanted to play. This brought results already in the 28th minute, when Lukas Klemenz scored a goal to make it 1-0, taking advantage of a beautiful pass by Alan Czerwiński.
In the first half, the Katowice team could have been leading 2-0. Bartosz Nowak – as he does – sent a perfect ball to Ilya Szkurin. This move by the GKS midfielder may be appreciated by coach Jan Urban, who was present at the match and will soon be sending out call-ups for the play-off matches. However, Bartłomiej Drągowski did great in this situation and managed to deflect the Belarusian striker’s shot onto the post.
Widzew woke up. It was enough to force overtime
In the second half, the Łódź team came out changed. Already in the 53rd minute, Widzew equalized after a really well-played free kick. Andi Zeqiri hit the ball into the goal from close range. Less than 10 minutes later, Jovicević’s players should have been leading, but Bergier scored in a great situation, as expected by Rafał Strączek.
But that’s where it ended. In the following minutes, Widzew did not attack so vigorously, and GKS Katowice played similarly. The match seemed headed to overtime. GKS coach Rafał Górak also realized this and made three changes in the 84th minute. Igor Jovicević made his first changes only in added time. The changes did not change the game, both teams played the second half, thinking primarily about their own safety.
GKS Katowice in the semi-final of the Polish Cup!
GKS Katowice went into overtime better. In the 96th minute, the Katowice team played a nice action on the right side of the field, which ended with a beautiful shot by Mateusz Wdowiak. GKS Katowice was leading 2:1! But the joy of the home fans was interrupted by the assistant referee who raised his flag and signaled for an offside. VAR confirmed this decision and the score was still 1-1.
The Katowice team attacked several times, but they were unable to perform another such good action. And Widzew? The Łódź team focused on defense. Their most dangerous situation was a kick-shot by Julian Shehu, but Rafał Strączek coped with this shot.
In the second half of overtime, the team from Łódź finally started looking for a goal, making it 2-1. But their attacks were always stopped by the home team’s defenders. In the 117th minute it could have been 2:1 for GKS! Wasielewski played the ball perfectly to Wędrychowski’s head, but he hit it straight at Bartłomiej Drągowski. Widzew was very lucky in this situation.
In the 121st minute, Mariusz Fornalczyk gave Alvarez a 100% chance, but Alvarez failed to hit the goal just as he knew how. Moments later, overtime ended. The first quarter-final of the Polish Cup was to be decided by penalty kicks!
The captain of GKS Katowice – Arkadiusz Jędrych – started. And Bartłomiej Drągowski was very close to saving his shot, but the ball flew under his hands. Next in line was Fran Alvarez, the player who had wasted Widzew’s chance to win the match in overtime a moment earlier.
And… he missed. Rafał Strączek sensed his intentions and saved this shot!
The next one was Bartosz Nowak, who defeated Drągowski using “Panenka”. The Widzew player was also right. Emil Kornvig hit very confidently. In the third series, both Damian Rasak and Christopher Cheng used their elevens.
Sebastian Milewski scored 4:2. Mariusz Fornalczyk struck next and had to score for Widzew to stay in the game. And he shot it high over the crossbar! The end of the match and the end of Widzew’s dreams. GKS Katowice advanced to the semi-finals of the Polish Cup, and Widzew lost their last chance for any success this season! This most likely also means the dismissal of coach Igor Jovicević. One thing is certain – Widzew fans will not miss the Croatian coach.
