Poland recall is magic news for Moder

The final whistle at Albion’s match at home to AS Roma last Thursday heralded the disappointment of our exit from the Europa League, but almost simultaneously came the confirmation of some good news for midfielder Jakub Moder.

The Poland squad for the UEFA EURO 24 play-off semi-finals was announced just after the final whistle and the Magic Man was back in the national team picture for the first time since suffering an ACL injury in a goalless draw at home to Norwich City in April 2022. The announcement came four days after his first Premier League start since the injury, in the 1-0 home victory over Nottingham Forest.

“I think it’s a super moment for me,” he said. “It’s two years since I was last in a Poland squad, and obviously I’m delighted to be back. It’s brilliant to be able to contribute to trying to get us to the Euros.

“It has taken two years of hard work to get to this point, to come back from the injury. It’s a big landmark for me. It’s something I was aiming towards and gave me extra motivation.”

Poland face Estonia in a one-game semi-final in Warsaw on Thursday and, if successful, a winner-takes-all final away to Wales or Finland five days later for a place in the EURO 2024 finals in Germany this summer.

“The last time I was in the squad was for the previous playoffs [for the 2022 World Cup] and I managed to help us get there, so it was a desperate shame to miss the finals,” he said. “I picked up the injury almost straight after the playoffs, so to be back in time for the next playoff ties is coming back to where it all started. I hope we have the same outcome as last time and get through to another major tournament.”

In the same way that Jakub returned to first-team action with Albion under a different head coach after Roberto De Zerbi succeeded Graham Potter, so Czesław Michniewicz, the coach of the national side when he last played for Poland in 2022, had been replaced by Fernando Santos and then Michał Probierz.

Fortunately for Moder, Probierz was aware of  his progress, both before and after his return to the Albion squad in November, when he came on as a substitute in the 3-2 victory at the City Ground.

“I’ve recently started playing more games for the club, so the Poland coach has seen that and feels that I’m ready to get back to contributing. It remains to be seen to what extent, but it’s fantastic to be part of it again,” added Moder. “I spoke to the coach and he emphasised to me that I was one of the players at the forefront of his thinking when my fitness was back to the required levels. That was very important and reassuring, because inevitably you have moments of doubt trying to get back from an injury like the one I had.

“I was even happier to hear that the coach had been keeping an eye on me all the time and monitoring my progress to get me back in at the earliest opportunity, that he sees me as someone who could come back in and be an important contributor. Even though I didn’t realise, because a lot of recovery from injury happens in isolation, he had me on his radar all the time.”

Probierz flew to England to see Moder before deciding to recall him. “I only found out 100% that I was definitely back [last Thursday] but I had talked to the coach two or three weeks ago when he came to Brighton to see me. He expressed his positive enthusiasm at my progress, of me as a player who can contribute to the team.

“But at that point he couldn’t confirm whether I would definitely be back in in time for the playoffs - it depended on my playing matches and how my fitness was looking. But even then, him speaking so positively about me was fantastic.  And obviously, I was delighted to get confirmation that I was in.”

Playing for Poland again was one of the motivating factors during the long hours of rehab. “I’d just established myself as an international when the injury happened, and that was the level I wanted to get back to. It was always one of my aims to get back into the Poland squad sooner or later. You have to set goals when you are doing rehab.  It was a case of making a plan and doing things step by step.

“My fitness is good now and I think I’ve been back to my usual self for the past three or four months, playing matches in the Premier League and FA Cup. I’m playing and training with full intensity and I’ve been able to keep it going without any significant setbacks.

“There’s no doubt that it has taken longer to get back to this point than I expected, but right from the outset the intention was not to rush things, and make sure the recovery was sustained and that nothing went wrong again. The idea was to come back at the right time so that nothing would happen to my knee while it was recovering its strength, and it looks like it’s all good so far.”