Szczesny praises ‘quality’ Colombia as Poland slump to early exit

Wojciech Szczesny admitted it was “hard to accept” Poland’s World Cup hopes were already over after losing to a “much better team” in Colombia on Sunday.

Adam Nawalka’s side succumbed to a 3-0 defeat in Kazan, leaving them without a point in Group H as they became the first European nation to be knocked out in Russia.

Yerry Mina headed Colombia ahead late in the first half and the South Americans were clinical on the counter after the break, adding further goals through Radamel Falcao and Juan Cuadrado.

Goalkeeper Szczesny was honest in his assessment of the game in the aftermath, acknowledging Poland had been outplayed despite making a bright start.

“It’s hard to accept because obviously our hopes of qualifying are finished, but we played against a much better team and that quality made the difference,” he told reporters.

“It hurts, but sometimes you have to accept that the opposition were better than you.

“I think we started well. There was a little bit of chaos in the game, and we seemed to collect the second balls and we were physically a little bit stronger. 

“But once they got going it was very difficult to stop them on a night like that, you just accept, with pain, but you accept that the opposition deserved to win.”

Colombia were cheered on by raucous support inside the stadium, though Szczesny dismissed the suggestion the opposition’s fans had an effect on Poland’s players on the pitch.

“That would be a very stupid excuse for us, but their fans were incredible,” he added.

“We had more of our fans in the first game and we still lost, so I don’t think it made much of a difference.”

Poland will complete their World Cup campaign with a final group outing against Japan, who can still qualify for the last 16 of the tournament, in Volgograd on Thursday.