No Dudek in Poland’s Provisional Euro 2008 Squad, But Still Room for Roger (When He Becomes Polish)

Just like Spain’s Luis Aragones earlier this week, Poland boss Leo Beenhakker has announced a provisional squad for Euro 2008.

Like Aragones’ first draft, Beenhakker’s is 31 men deep, which will be trimmed to 23 at a later date. And like Aragones’ squad, despite the size of it there are some inevitable disappointed Euro 2008 wannabes. Jerzy Dudek, for example, has discovered that sitting on the Madrid bench at the Bernabéu for a year is not the best preparation for an international tournament.

But unlike Aragones’ squad, there’s one name not on the list who still has a good chance of playing in Swissaustria this summer.

Brazilian born Roger Guerreiro currently plays for Legia Warsaw and is in the process of getting a Polish passport. He doesn’t quite have it yet, and also needs FIFA approval to play for Poland, but if and when that happens Beenhakker has made it clear he wants Roger in his team for Swissaustria. Here’s why:

Can’t argue with that.

Here’s the current 31 man squad:

Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic/SCO), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United/ENG), Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal/ENG), Wojciech Kowalewski (Korona Kielce)

Defenders: Jacek Bak (Austria Vienna/AUT), Arkadiusz Radomski (Austria Vienna/AUT), Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht/BEL), Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest/ROM), Mariusz Jop (FK Moscow/RUS), Adam Kokoszka (Wisla Krakow), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw), Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos/GRE), Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade/SRB)

Midfielders: Dariusz Dudka (Wisla Krakow), Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow), Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk/UKR), Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan), Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow), Jacek Krzynowek (VfL Wolfsburg/GER), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Racing Santander/ESP), Radoslaw Majewski (Groclin Grodzisk), Michal Golinski (Zaglebie Lubin), Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze).

Forwards: Maciej Zurawski (AE Larissa/GRE), Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze), Radoslaw Matusiak (Wisla Krakow), Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin/GER), Marek Saganowski (Southampton/ENG), Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld/GER), Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow/RUS).

Whichever players make the final 23 could be on to a nice little earner. Apparently there’s three million euros available to share amongst the squad, should they reach the final.

When asked who was likely to make that final 23, Beenhakker just told the press to ““speculate about particular positions and have fun,” so Tomasz of Poland WCB fame has taken Leo up on the offer.