Paulo Sousa Highlights Poland's Mistake In Defense Line: We Shouldn't Have Lost In This Way

JAKARTA - The coach of the Polish national team, Paulo Sousa, highlighted the negligence of his line of players at the back after being defeated by Slovakia 1-2 in the opening match of Group E Euro 2020 at the Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Monday local time (Tuesday, western Indonesia time).

The most obvious thing in Sousa's eyes was the situation of Slovakia's second goal scored by Milan Skriniar, where the Inter Milan center back was standing free without control in the Polish penalty box.

"The idea is that we want to be the protagonists of this game, have the ball, and create chances, we can relatively do that," Sousa said after the match.

"Indeed we could have done better. We have to be braver, especially at the back."

"We've been working on a strategy for the last week so that Skriniar doesn't get out of hand, and suddenly he's standing free in a corner."

"I had to review the situation to understand how he was able to stand free without being escorted," he added.

Skriniar's goal saw Poland's hard work equalizing early in the second half through Karol Linetty vanish, and the need to continue with 10 men as Grzegorz Krychowiak didn't help them either.

This defeat clearly put Sousa in the spotlight of the Polish public, considering that he was only appointed by the Polish football association, PZPN, in January to replace Jerzy Brzeczek who was actually able to lead the country to the main round of Euro 2020.

With this result, Sousa, who has only assisted Poland six times, has a track record of one win, three draws, and two defeats.

"It's not just the Poles who are disappointed. I'm disappointed too, the whole squad is disappointed, because we shouldn't have lost like this," he said.

Sousa's position may be increasingly highlighted, considering that Poland will next face the seeded team as well as one of the hosts Spain in La Cartuja, Sevilla, on Saturday, June 19.