Poland’s Krychowiak available v England after negative test

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland was hoping to include Grzegorz Krychowiak in its team to play England in a World Cup qualifier after the midfielder returned a negative test for the coronavirus on Tuesday, a day after testing positive.

Krychowiak and teammate Kamil Piatkowski tested positive before the team’s flight to Britain. That took the number of cases in the playing squad to four during the current international period.

However, the Polish Football Association said after arriving at Wembley for a pre-game training session that it was attempting to get Krychowiak to London later Tuesday to join the team following his negative test. The association had been in contact with UEFA, having said he had had the virus before.

Last week, Poland reported positive virus tests for Leeds midfielder Mateusz Klich and Bologna goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski.

Poland is also without star striker Robert Lewandowski, who was ruled out of Wednesday’s game because of a knee injury that German club Bayern Munich said will keep him out for four weeks. Lewandowski limped off on Sunday after scoring twice as Poland beat Andorra 3-0.

“It is an important moment for us to build up strongly our mentality without an important reference like Robert,” Poland coach Paulo Sousa. “For the ones on the pitch, they need to produce this mentality where Poland can be strong after this match.”

Wednesday’s game could play a big role in deciding qualification from Group I. England is two points ahead of Poland and Hungary with only the top-ranked team qualifying automatically.

Sousa said the potential availability of Krychowiak, a defensive midfielder for Lokomotiv Moscow who has previously played for Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain, was “huge.”

“Especially against teams like England … to have an experienced player in the middle of the park,” Sousa said. “It’s not only what he can reach himself but what he can transmit and communicate to the other ones to handle the complexity of the game.”

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