I thought Kamil Grosicki would waste his career like Igor Sypniewski

We have two national team matches ahead of us – one a friendly with Moldova, but the other important, for points in the World Cup qualifiers, against Finland. The number one topic in the sports media is the absence of Robert Lewandowski, who is absent from the training camp, and during his vacation he went to the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix, among other places. Considering the importance of the match with Finland, I am a bit surprised by his absence.

I don't know about Robert's health problems, which may not be visible at first glance, and perhaps Robert played the end of the season "on fumes". He will celebrate his 37th birthday in August and it is possible that from Monday to Friday he was nursing some injuries that were invisible to the average fan, which prevented him from being in his best form, which unfortunately resulted in him losing the title of the league's top scorer to Kylian Mbappe.

The qualifying match with Finland seems to be a key match. If Robert has some problem that we don't know about, but that the medical staff and the coach know about, then this is most likely the main reason for his absence. Let's hope that the players who have been aspiring for years to be Lewandowski's partners in the squad or to replace him in the future will prove effective in these matches, especially on Tuesday in Helsinki.

Since the beginning of Michał Probierz's term, we have been eagerly awaiting Poland playing effectively and spectacularly, but we still haven't seen it. We would like to see a new quality, starting with the next match, through the autumn meetings, where we will face, among others, the very strong Dutch, the favourites of our elimination group. The first half of the year was supposed to be calmer due to the schedule, the second full of challenges, but in reality, even with weaker rivals, the White and Reds' game is subject to thorough analysis. There is no room for simple mistakes.

Since Tuesday is the match with the Finns, I remember my last appearance in the Polish national team. In September 2006, under Leo Beenhakker's baton, we lost the Euro 2008 qualifiers to Finland 1:3. "Przegląd Sportowy" wrote on the cover: "It was supposed to be total Dutch football, but it turned out to be a total misunderstanding - both in terms of the result and the style of play". Before the training camp, the coach flew especially to me in Wolverhampton and to Jurek Dudek in Liverpool to discuss the reasons for not calling us up for the World Cup.

It seemed that the Dutchman would be counting on us in the coming months, hence my appearances in the first team in Beenhakker's two inaugural matches as the coach of the White and Reds - against Denmark (0:2) and Finland (1:3). Unfortunately, they were not decorated with either my goals or great play. Jurek also made a cardinal mistake when clearing the ball, hitting one of the opponents, and a moment later the legendary Jari Litmanen opened the score of the match. A false start was noted, but - more importantly - a month later we beat Kazakhstan first (1:0), and a few days later we recorded a legendary victory at the Silesian Stadium against Portugal (2:1) after two goals by my opponent from the attack, Ebi Smolarek.

A few days before the match with the Finns, I moved to Tenerife on a one-year loan. In Wolverhampton, coach Glenn Hoddle was replaced by Mick McCarthy, the former manager of the Republic of Ireland. He told me clearly: "Listen, Tomas, you're 32. I'm doing the national team my way. I respect your achievements, so I'm telling you straight: you have to go, because you won't be playing in the first team." He made it clear, transparent, and I appreciated him for that at the time. I left for the Canary Islands to play regularly and give the national team what was expected of it - qualifying for the European Championship in 2008. Ultimately, however, my adventure with the national team ended with the competition with Finland and 22 appearances.

Kamil Grosicki will officially say goodbye to the Polish national team. When I had him by my side as a partner in Jagiellonia Białystok, when he was 20, I thought he would play for a maximum of a decade and finish his performances, to become another player after Igor Sypniewski or Dawid Janczyk who wasted his career for reasons other than purely football-related. Kamil, on the other hand, has undergone a beautiful metamorphosis, changed his behavior off the pitch and today, at the age of 37, he is the leader and legend of Pogoń Szczecin, and almost a hundred matches in the national team are a reason for pride for him and his family.

I am also proud of "Grosik" that he has squeezed the most out of his career. I think that Polish fans, for his play in the last decade, can only consider him a role model for a footballer, perhaps just behind Robert Lewandowski or Jakub Błaszczykowski.