Poland defender Piszczek quits national team after World Cup

Colombia's James Rodriguez, left, and Poland's Lukasz Piszczek, right, challenge for the ball. (Thanassis Stavrakis/AP)

WARSAW, Poland — Poland defender Lukasz Piszczek says he is quitting the national team following a poor World Cup performance.

Piszczek wrote on Instagram that he was taking a "hard but rational" decision and was ending his "adventure with the representation."

In an interview for Wirtualna Polska news portal, the 33-year-old Borussia Dortmund defender said his performance was a "great surprise" to him and that his physical condition failed him at the tournament in Russia.

Poland was eliminated in the group stage.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.