Penalty kicks began and ended the match in Stalowa Wola, in which the Arka Gdynia players proved to be superior. Already in the second minute Paweł Lenarcik defended a shot from Górski from 11 meters, but shortly afterwards the hosts took the lead thanks to Svec. 10 minutes before the end Czubak caused extra time, in which again both teams scored one goal each. The promotion was therefore decided by penalty kicks, and in them the Arka goalkeeper became the hero. Lenarcik deflected two shots from the opponents, and once provoked a shot beyond the goal line, and after the penalty kicks Arka Gdynia was on top.
1/32 Polish Cup finals – 2024/25 edition
Stal Stalowa Wola – Arka Gdynia 2:2 (1:0, 1:1, 1:1) k. 2:3
Goals: Svec 15′ Tavares 116′ – Czubak 80′, Navarro 109′
Penalty shootout:
1 series: 0:0 Kukułowicz – defended, 0:1 Marcjanik
2nd series: 0:1 Soszyński – defended, 0:1 Rzuchowski – defended
3 would be: 1:1 Zaucha, 1:2 Navarro
4 series: 1:2 Tavares – defended, 1:2 Kocaba – defended
5 would be: 2:2 Furtak, 2:3 Oliveira
Became: Wolf – Kukulowicz, Banach, Furtak, Urban (46′ Zaucha), Soszyński, Mydlarz, Pchełka (81′ Lelek), Górski (46′ Pioterczak), Strózik (74′ Tavares), Svec (74′ Chełmecki)
Back: Lenarcik – Navarro, Marcjanik, Dobrotka, Lipkowski (46′ Gojny) – Skóra (62′ Gaprindashvili), Sidibe, Borecki (46′ Kocaba), Vitalucci (86′ Rzuchowski) – Sobczak (62′ Oliveira), Czubak
Yellow cards: Strózik, Górski, Zaucha, Mydlarz, Chełmecki, Tavares, Kukulowicz – Borecki, Gaprindashvili, Navarro
Judge: Jacek Malysz (Lublin)
Viewers:
For Arkowcy, the competition in the Polish Cup has had an absolutely exceptional meaning for several years. The successes achieved, three finals of this competition since 2017, have their own meaning. It is no wonder that another edition of the Tournament of a Thousand Teams gives fans of the yellow and blues an additional thrill. This year, fate showed Arka a rival in the team of Stal Stalowa Wola, a team from Betclic 1 League, and the Gdynia team had to take the role of guests, so in order to play the match, they covered a distance of almost 700 km.
Coach Grzegorczyk, as expected, named several players to the starting eleven who had not played for a significant amount of time recently. Lenarcik returned to the goal, and in the defense line we saw Dobrotka and Lipkowski, among others. Skóra, Sidibe, Borecki and Vitalucci showed up in the second line, while in the attack from the first minute we had a pair of forwards who also start every game in the league during this coach’s tenure, namely Czubak and Sobczak.
Coach Ireneusz Pietrzykowski’s team, who have only scored 2 out of a possible 30 points, also entered the match against Arka with many changes in the starting eleven. Unlike the one that drew in Tychy last weekend, there were as many as seven changes, so the hosts also decided to give their substitutes a chance.
The match started very badly for the visitors. In the first minute, Stal players took the ball just before our penalty area, and a moment later Navarro committed a foul already within the penalty area and referee Małyszek pointed to the penalty spot. The penalty was taken by Górski, but his shot into the left corner of the goal turned out to be legible for Lernacik and the Arka goalkeeper emerged victorious from this duel!
In the following minutes, Arka tried to return to the way of playing that had been in their plans for this match from the beginning, i.e. they tried to keep the ball as much as possible and, when the opportunity arose, to take shots on goal. The first to attempt such attempts were Vitalucci and Lipkowski, but without positive results. Arka failed to find the right rhythm, many inaccuracies translated into losing the ball and exposing themselves to the hosts’ actions in front of their own goal. It was obvious that Stal decided to adopt the same way of playing that Warta proposed in the last league match, i.e. approaching our players closely, pressing already in our part of the game.
It was thanks to such means that Stal took the lead in the 15th minute. Kukułowicz played from the right side along the six-meter line, none of our players intercepted the ball, so Svec closed the action at the far post, putting the ball into our goal from close range.
From the moment of conceding the goal, Arka began to play noticeably better. On the right wing, the Gdynia team’s attacks were fueled by Skóra, who twice broke into the penalty area with the ball, but there he lacked precision when passing to one of his partners. There was also a corner kick, after which Sidibe made an accurate header, but too light to cause problems for Wilk.
Unfortunately, after a few minutes, the hosts took the lead again. In the 23rd minute, Marcjanik, in an almost identical goal situation, this time intervened effectively. In the 28th minute, Furtak had a shot inside the penalty area and it is possible that he would have scored if Michał Marcjanik had not once again gotten in the way of the ball.
In the 32nd minute Karol Czubak was fouled 19 meters in front of Wilk’s goal. Navarro took advantage of a very good opportunity to shoot from a free kick, but the Spaniard was about half a meter wrong. A few minutes later Vitalucci had a very good idea to pass to Sidibe, and after receiving the ball the Ivorian fired a shot that was saved by Wilk. In the 38th minute Lipkowski brilliantly crossed the ball to Czubak, who was running into the penalty area, and Karol’s shot hit the Stal goalkeeper! In the last action of the first half of the match Damian Urban shone, firing a good, measured shot from a distance, but Lenarcik was prepared for it, because he caught the ball confidently.
In the second half of the match we did not see Lipkowski and Borecki on the pitch. The latter had a yellow card, so it is hard to be surprised by the decision of coach Grzegorczyk, who sent Gojny and Kocaba into the fight in their place. However, we had to wait a long time for the Arkowcy to shoot towards the hosts’ goal. It came in the 57th minute, when Vitalucci tried to strike from outside the penalty area, but the precision left much to be desired. In response, Struzik shot from 17 meters, but Lenarcik was on guard.
A minute later, Arkowcy were very lucky not to concede a second goal. Pioterczak, brought on during the break, was completely unattended at 10 meters, but when the ball reached him, the Stal midfielder miserably overshot.
After an hour of play, Arka changed their formation when Oliveira entered the pitch, who was too invisible for Sobczak that day. Gaprindashvili also appeared on the pitch, replacing Skóra. The Gdynia team lacked specifics for a long time, but in the last 20 minutes Arka’s pressure clearly increased. In the 71st minute, Karol Czubak tried to head the ball dangerously after a cross from a corner kick by Navarro, but nothing came of it. Two minutes later, Navarro’s pass from the end line reached Sidibe, but the former Atalanta Bergamo midfielder lifted the ball too much and as a result kicked it high over the crossbar.
In the 75th minute, Arka maintained possession of the ball in the penalty area for a long time, but its density made it impossible to shoot. Such attempts were made by Sidibe and Czubak, but everything ended on the legs of the defenders from Stalowa Wola. In the 80th minute, Arka finally achieved their goal. Gaprindashvili served Vitalucci with a pass in Stal’s penalty area, and he passed it very accurately on the ground from the end line to Czubak, who was positioned at eight meters, and who did not waste the opportunity! This is the 56th goal of this striker in yellow and blue colors, who equals the fourth in the all-time rankings, Wojciech Ptaszyński.
A minute before the end of regular time, Gojny was close to luck. He received the ball in the penalty area from Czubak, and after moving inside, he sent a shot towards the far post, but he made a mistake. 60 seconds later, we launched a counter-attack, after which both Czubak and Sidibe could have taken a shot inside the penalty area, but neither of them did so, because the home team’s defenders effectively made it difficult for them.
In added time, luck was once again on Stal’s side, because when Oliveira passed the ball from the end line towards Sidibe, who was running into the goal area, it seemed that a goal was inevitable, but at the last moment one of the defenders got ahead of the young midfielder from Gdynia and a moment later the referee ordered extra time.
The additional 30 minutes were opened well by Gaprindashvili, because his shot from 20 meters narrowly flew over the crossbar. In the sixth minute of this part of the match, the Georgian could have had an assist if his backheel pass had been intercepted by Oliveira, because the Swiss would have been alone in front of Adam Wilk, but it turned out differently. A moment later, Lenarcik had to be vigilant, when a surprising shot was taken by Lelek.
Understandably, the game was increasingly interrupted by cramps suffered by players from both teams. It was therefore difficult to get fluid, and consequently, there were fewer and fewer coherent actions. We waited for such a one until the 105th minute, when Gojny passed to Oliveira, who ran into the penalty area and sent the ball ahead of the running Wilk, but over the goal. Before the whistle ending the first half of extra time, Gaprindashvili carried out a good action, but after entering the penalty area from the left, his pass along the goal fell into the hands of the goalkeeper.
From the beginning of the second half of extra time, Arka attacked. This resulted in winning a corner kick, which gave the yellow and blues the desired lead. In the 109th minute, Gojna crossed the corner, and Navarro reached for the ball with his head and directed it past the helpless Wilk!
In the 113th minute, just before the 16-meter line, Navarro fouled his opponent. Kukułowicz took a shot from this distance, the ball flew over the wall and hit the crossbar. The goal was not scored, but what is delayed, is not lost… In the 116th minute, after a cross from a set piece into our penalty area, there was a lot of chaos there, in which Tavares was the best. The Stal player shot from 12 meters and Lenarcik could only pick the ball out of the net.
The last few minutes were inconclusive, so referee Małyszek called penalties. The hosts were the first to take them, and Kukułowicz initiated the shot from 11 meters. Lenarcik sensed the shooter’s intentions, rushed to the corner where the ball was sent and made his second effective intervention during a penalty kick of the evening! In response, Marcjanik scored and gave Arka the lead. Soszyński struck second for Stal and the captain of Stal missed the goal! After a moment, Rzuchowski could have increased Arka’s lead, but his shot was stopped by Wilk. In the third series, Zaucha scored, but Navarro changed the score to 2:1 for Arka. Later, Lenarcik again brilliantly defended a penalty taken by Tavares, but Kocaba was also stopped by the Stal goalkeeper. Furtak effectively opened the last series, but everything was in the hands and feet of Oliveira. The Swiss did not disappoint, he deceived the goalkeeper and thus ensured Arka’s advancement to the 1/16 finals!
We paid for playing in the next round of the cup competition with a large expenditure of energy, because 120 minutes of running on the other side of Poland will certainly leave a mark on our players. However, the goal was achieved and coach Grzegorczyk’s players definitely deserved applause, especially Paweł Lenarcik, who performed brilliantly when the opponents were shooting from penalties – he stopped three such shots and once provoked the opponent into a mistake. The Gdynia coaches received excellent material for analysis, because that evening they were able to take a closer look at several of their players, who have had fewer opportunities to play recently, and the conclusions drawn can only help in the upcoming league matches.
Arkadiusz Skubek
WE CHOOSE THE PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Stal Stalowa Wola – Arka Gdynia
Goals
2 (2)
2 (3)
Shots
10
14
Customs
6
6
Corner kicks
5
8
Attacks
99
120
Dangerous attacks
77
85
Possession of the ball
46%
54%
Yellow cards
7
3
Red cards
0
0
TICKETS FOR THE ARKA – CHROBRY MATCH
