Blues keeper Bartosz Bialkowski says he’ll do everything he can to make Poland’s final World Cup 23 when he meets up with the provisional squad next week. Manager Adam Nawalka is due to name the players who have made the cut on June 4th.
Bialkowski won his first full cap in the 1-0 friendly defeat to Nigeria in March and earlier this month was named in the 35-man party - which was reduced to 32 last week - for the training camp in Arlamow which starts next Tuesday.
The 30-year-old is one of four keepers in that squad along with Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea), Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus) and Lukasz Skorupski (Roma).
While two of Nawalka’s World Cup keepers look nailed-on certainties - Szczesny and Fabianski - the third space in the squad travelling to Russia is more open with Skorupski having played only once in a cup game for his club side this season.
"It feels good. I’m buzzing,” Bialkowski told iFollow Ipswich. "The manager called me a couple of days before the last game of the season and told me I would be in the first squad.
"When I got my first call-up it was a dream come true. It made me want to be involved more and the next step for me was to be named in the provisional squad. Now that’s the case and hopefully I can be named in the final squad in a couple of weeks.
"I’m off to Poland tomorrow to spend some time with my family and then I’ll be meeting up with the rest of the guys next Tuesday.
"I think the squad gets cut down to 23 on June 4th so I’ll work hard in training and we’ll see what the outcome is.”
He added: "We have some good goalkeepers and Fabianski and Szczesny are the main two.
"I think they’ll be fighting for that number one spot but if I’m going to be in that final squad of three keepers then obviously I will do everything I can to impress the manager and coaches and push them harder.
"I’m delighted for Jonas [Knudsen] as well. He’s a great guy and a great professional. He deserves to be in the provisional squad for Denmark and hopefully he’ll make it into the final 23 for them. Fingers crossed for him.”
The Poles have been drawn in World Cup Group H along with Senegal, Colombia and Japan.
Prior to the finals they play Chile in a friendly in Poznań on June 8th and Lithuania in Warsaw on June 12th.
Town have taken up a one-year option on the former Southampton and Notts County keeper's current deal but Bialkowski is still to put pen to paper on the new contract which former manager Mick McCarthy announced had been agreed in January.
BREAKING: @ShamrockRovers forward Graham Burke and @bfcdublin goalkeeper Shane Supple have been included in Martin O’Neill’s 🇮🇪 squad to face France & USA. Full squad will be released on Thursday. #COYBIG #GreatestLeagueInTheWorld pic.twitter.com/9HoOifM5Go– FAIreland âš½ï¸ðŸ‡®ðŸ‡ª (@FAIreland) May 21, 2018
Meanwhile, former Blues keeper Shane Supple will be named in the Republic of Ireland squad for the first time later this week for their friendlies against France and USA.
The 31-year-old Playford Road academy product famously retired from professional football when with the Blues in 2009 before returning to the game in his native Ireland with Crumlin United in 2015 prior to joining his current League of Ireland club Bohemians a year later.