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Northern Ireland-Poland 3:2. Pathetic.

March 29th, 2009 | By: tomasz | 63 Comments »

Do you remember a worse performance by the Polish national team? I’d really have to dig deep in my memory to find one. Poland lost to Northern Ireland in a match that I find hard to call a game of football. During those ninety minutes Polish players became a laughing stock across the country.

Northern Ireland-Poland 3:2 (Feeney 10′, Evans 47′, Zelakow (og) 62′- Jelen 27′, Saganowski 90′)
Poland: Artur Boruc – Marcin Wasilewski, Michal Zewlakow (65′ Bartosz Bosacki), Dariusz Dudka, Jakub Wawrzyniak – Robert Lewandowski, Mariusz Lewandowski, Roger Guerreiro, Tomasz Bandrowski (60′ Jakub Blaszczykowski), Jacek Krzynowek – Ireneusz Jelen (71′ Marek Saganowski).

Everybody knew how would Northern Ireland perform. And, of course, they played as everyone expected them to. Unfortunately, our players were unable to make use of this knowledge. It looked as if it was the first time they had seen each other. There was no cooperation, no character and no wit in the Bialo Czerwoni performance. It quickly became visible that it would be impossible to employ possession play and bring the ball to the ground as often as possible. The awful pitch at Windsor Park didn’t permit technical play and exchanging numerous passes (just look at Roger’s struggle to even stay on his feet). We switched to the Irish style of play and kicked the ball forward in hope that Ireneusz Jelen will somehow reach it. Ok, so maybe the conditions didn’t allow for any other style of play. But what should be our most important concern at this point? To play well in defense, don’t mess around with the ball and just count on our individualities upfront to score. Sadly, the defenders managed to make so many mistakes that probably even PhDs in mathematics lost count. Only in the first minutes of the game the ball hit surprised Dariusz Dudka and provided David Healy a chance to score. Then Michal Zewlakow passed the ball to one of the Irish players and gave Artur Boruc a chance for his single good intervention in the game. The Irish pressure finally paid off in the 10th minute. A simple cross, Artie comes out to claim it and… decides to leave the ball for bedazzled Kuba Wawrzyniak. The Irish attacker proves more resolute and passes the ball for Warren Feeney to put it in an empty net. If that doesn’t mean shaky defending nothing does. And we were in for much worse. Defenders relentlessly passed the ball back to Boruc who clearly struggled to kick it upfield. Once he even shouted at Zewlak not to backpass the ball to him, but our captain knew better. And what about our offense? Non existent. Our only idea was to play a long ball towards Jelen. The ball scarcely reached the wingers and when it did both Krzynowek and Robert Lewandowski didn’t know what to do with it. Tomasz Bandrowski, the guy who was supposed to win possession and play safe did exactly the opposite. In such circumstances it was a miracle that we managed to score a goal. A fast counter, Roger gets the ball near the centre of the field and plays a nice diagonal pass towards Jelonek, who is too fast to catch for the Irish defenders. It was the only sign that we can play football in the first half. Still, the morale during the half time break wasn’t that low. I thought to myself, we can’t play much worse, can we? Surely things can only get better…

I was in for a huge surprise. Wawrzyniak had problems with first touch and gave away a corner kick for free. Obviously the players knew that Northern Ireland is extremely dangerous at set pieces. Still, they allowed Johnny Evans to score one of the easiest goals of his life (and maybe the only one). Instead of closely guarding Evans, Marcin Wasilewski slipped and enabled the ManUtd defender to defeat Boruc. A horribly stupid goal, but it didn’t prepare the fans for what was about to happen next. Our captain and most experienced defender Michal Zewlakow lost his head under pressure and passed the ball to Boruc once again. The problem is that the pass was directed at our goal at the same time, something that even eleven year olds know is forbidden. Boruc decided to kick the ball as far as possible which proved deadly for our team as the ball bounced in front of him leaving our keeper in bewilderment. I’ll be honest with you, at that point I became numb to what was happening on the field. It was simply too much for me. The game itself was hard to watch even when we started to dominate. Kuba Blaszczykowski came on the field, but he was far from his best and wasn’t physically ready to compete against the driven Irish. Marek Saganowski had a good run in the game and managed to score what was his most beautiful goal in the national team. Nevertheless, at no point I felt that we can turn the game around. It was simply painful to watch, something I hope we’ll never have to experience again in our lifetime. Reasons? The players didn’t use the knowledge they had about the opponents. Leo Beenhakker lost his control of the team, he wasn’t able to pass his message across. He just didn’t prepare the team during the week of training he had with them. It’s very strange when four defenders who play regularly for their clubs keep giving the ball away in simplest of situations. Playing Robert Lewandowski on the right wing proved to be a bad idea. Bandrowski simply wasn’t prepared for an international football challenge. What’s worst, the team didn’t look like they care. Even Leo looked like he stopped caring. When you’re struggling in football terms you should at least fight. It was enough to put some pressure on the Irish and the game could have been different. Sadly, there wasn’t enough will in the players to even do that.

Player ratings (1-10):

Artur Boruc 2: is to blame for two of the goals; lack of communication in the first case and a miskick in the second. Didn’t help the defenders to organize the defensive play. Awful at kicking the ball. Saved a one on one situation in the beginning of the game.
Jakub Wawrzyniak 1: part of the joke that was our defense. Gave away the corner for the second goal.
Dariusz Dudka 1: once the ball hit his head without him realizing that. Lacked confidence.
Michal Zewlakow 1: stubborn in his passing the ball back to Boruc and got his reward for that. Lack of leadership.
Marcin Wasilewski 1: probably even Irish attackers were surprised by the space they had on their left wing. Is to blame for the second goal.
Tomasz Bandrowski 1: simply out of his depth, I expected much more from him.
Mariusz Lewandowski 3: one of the players that at least tried to put some pressure on the opponent.
Jacek Krzynowek 1: was he even on the pitch? Oh yeah, he had one shot from a free kick and one long shot over the bar.
Robert Lewandowski 2: lost confidence after losing the ball stupidly a couple of times in the opening minutes of the game. Played out of position.
Roger Guerreiro 3: deadly conditions for him. A nice assist for Jelen’s goal. At least showed some will to play in the last fifteen minutes of the game.
Ireneusz Jelen 4: had to run after numerous inaccurate passes. Used his chance when provided with an accurate pass. Completely lost in the second half.
Bartosz Bosacki 3: lucky, as there wasn’t much defending left when he entered the field.
Jakub Blaszczykowski 3: brought some energy to the game, but was afraid to get involved too much at the same time. Out of form; we’ll have to wait some time for the good old Kuba.
Marek Saganowski 5: courage, proper attitude and a great goal.

Conclusions:

- when I was depressed after the game I thought that’s the end of competitive football for us till 2012. After I checked the table in the morning I came to the conclusion that there is still a lot to fight for, at least the second place in the table. Let’s win against San Marino and give our all in the autumn games, there is no need to surrender at the moment.
- Leo has no effect on the team; he knew how the Irish would play, but the players made no use of this knowledge. Are the players tired of Leo or is Leo tired of Poland? Mariusz Lewandowski asked after the game not to attack the coach and said that the players are solely to blame. I wonder if the whole team thinks that.
- a lot of people want Leo to be fired. It’s true, apart from the game against the Czech Republic, the last year was awful for the national team. However, I’d refrain from sacking Leo at this moment. Not necessarily because I believe in our qualification to the 2010 World Cup, but because there are no competent coaches on the market at the moment. Knowing the ideals shared by Grzegorz Lato, Antoni Piechniczek and Jerzy Engel it’s highly unlikely that another foreign coach will be employed. Who are we left with in Poland? There are two main candidates: Franz Smuda and Henryk Kasperczak. However, the former is fighting for Polish championship with Lech Poznan, whereas the latter fights against relegation with Gornik Zabrze. In other words, they’re far from being available. Piotr Nowak may be the only possible candidate at the moment, but is he a serious one?
- Robert Lewandowski is not a right winger.
- Tomasz Bandrowski is not a national team material.
- we need a replacement left winger for Jacek Krzynowek as soon as possible. Where are those Ludovic Obraniak’s citizenship papers?
- the time comes when Adam Kokoszka should be given a chance to start in an important national team game.
- Ireneusz Jelen should remain in the team.
- there is no use playing Kuba Blaszczykowski when unfit.

We’ve got the game against San Marino on Wednesday. This time a win is really a must. We’ll know what we’re standing on after all the group’s games finish. I know it’s hard to keep our heads up at the moment, but there is still a lot to fight for.

Highlights (try not to laugh):

Irlandia – Polska 1:0

Irlandia – Polska 1:1

Irlandia – Polska 2:1

Irlandia – Polska 3:1

Irlandia – Polska 3:2

Tags: Bandrowski, Beenhakker, Blaszczykowski, boruc, Bosacki, Dudka, Group A, Jelen, Krzynowek, Lewandowski, Northern Ireland, Poland, Robert Lewandowski, Roger, Saganowski, Wasilewski, Wawrzyniak, Zewlakow

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 63 comments.

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By adas | March 30th, 2009 at 5:34 pm

I don’t understand why you, NornIron fan, would gloat over a victory over Poland. Do you really consider Poland to be that much more superior to you? Sadly, Poland is not an elite team and with such a poor performance you can be happy for a victory by any means, but this was no way a great performance by your side either. You did give up two goals, and save for a blunder by the defense, or goaltender, the game could have ended a two all draw. Now, should Northern Ireland win the rematch in Poland, and confidently too, then you can by all means relish the victory. There’s no reason to berate Polish supporters for what was clearly a bad day for our team. Congratulations, but show some class. Its not like you did anything for the team to win.

By paradowski | March 30th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

^ I wasn’t defending any of violence – I was just skeptical that only one side can be blamed.

I was born in U.S. but this lost made me realize more just how huge a fan I am of Polska. I can’t remember being so devastated by a teams’ lose.

Posted from United States

By paradowski | March 30th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

^ I wasn’t defending any of violence – I was just skeptical that only one side can be blamed.

I was born in U.S. but this lost made me realize more just how huge a fan I am of Polska. I can’t remember being so devastated by a teams’ lose.

Posted from United States

By Zenek | March 30th, 2009 at 8:13 pm

N. Ireland is not a good team. You have crap stikers that cant even kick a ball straight when trying to score. I recall u guys missing horribly with no defensive pressure. It was ur hooligans which threw something at the ref and u deserve a serious fine for that. As far as hooligans go u are right Poland has a much more severe case of it. But N. Ireland is only tough on their own tiny piece of turf. I heard of jumpings on Poles for no reasons just racism and over jobs. Well once the Polish people get together you guys were quiet to try something with them. Dont worry to much all the poles are gonna leave because your economy is good as the football you play. But we’ll see on the rematch with Orbaniak, Kuba, Brozek, and Jelen all playing in top flight teams. This time we will play in a stadium that actually has a pitch not that sheep grass that ur rich country put out.

By adas | March 30th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

Like you paradowski, I too was born in the US. I got to see the US play Poland when I was real young, and I didn’t enjoy it because I had no idea what was going on. I was too young, and no one explained the game to me. Poland won 2-0. This loss came as a shock to me, and it ruined my weekend, not because Northern Ireland were bad, but as a fan I want Poland to win every game and it stings when they don’t. But failing to qualify for the WC isn’t the worst thing. Don’t forget, Europe get a lot slots but the teams are better, and the groupings aren’t always fair. It just stinks because teams from other continents might qualify even if they’re lesser sides than Poland. But that’s the way it works. Poland must be doing something well, they did get the nod to cohost the Euros in 2012. Maybe things will slowly get better. But remember, there’s always another game. One day the team might play as well if not better than the team in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

By chester | March 30th, 2009 at 9:08 pm

I also was born in the USA. I remember i used to not care about soccer at all during 2002. I remember my father and my principle talking about how it would be better for the USA to win because they would move out of the group stage. I was probably only in 6th grade so i didnt really care so much. But when i started to get older i started to understand and i developed a love for the team. Now i the last USA game i can remember watching is the one against Poland last march. We are starting to develop the individual talents slowly and that Poland is much prosperous country kids will have more time to play soccer and more youth teams/leagues will be made. We just need to take these talents dip them into the team like Germany did to Podolski. We need to start the reform of the PZPN and to figure out how to make all these talents to work well with each other. The young guys we have much more technical skills, then the physical old guys we have and they can go both ways be failures or success stories. It depends on how they are taken care of.

By M. Zurawski | March 30th, 2009 at 9:11 pm

Some of the things you guys are saying about the Irish are just stupid. Why do things always have to be taken to the realm of racism? or would you call it friendly banter when you tell an Irishman about the English stealing their country. How would you feel if he came in here and started going on about how the Germans treated your grandfather, or the Russians. Yes, sure, the pitch was shit. But we lost, and that’s that, and it means the Irish played better, because they WON. Mistakes, luck, karma, whatever. Let’s all be goddamn civil to one another. Who wins when drunks act like peasants and attack the fucking Irish police? Certainly not our image. And we should be concerned with ourselves before we criticize anyone else.

By zaraza | March 30th, 2009 at 11:09 pm

Of course they played better, they’re accustomed to playing on that shit pitch! That doesn’t mean they deserved to win though.

“And we should be concerned with ourselves before we criticize anyone else.”

Huh? Shouldn’t you be telling that to our guest? He’s the one who came over here and started criticizing us, conveniently overlooking the fact that the Nirish were attacking innocent Poles as well. I’m a little surprised that you, as a Pole, are also choosing to overlook those incidents.

Posted from Canada

By Alek | March 31st, 2009 at 1:08 am

I have to agree with zaraza. If someones team is such shit that they have to make sure that their pitch is in a horrible condition just so your opponents cant play is just about the cheapest shit possible. It would be like as if we changed Wronki stadium to a crater with goals at the end. If we aren’t favorites in a match we can play there. No need for tactics or anything, we always draw because the ball wont be able to move at all.

And about the hooliganism. Poles don’t seem to trow things at linemen to get the game stopped. We may not be the best fans but we know that when we play internationally we show some courtesy.

By tomasz | March 31st, 2009 at 4:07 am

I didn’t mention hooligans in the note because I didn’t want to give them any coverage, plus such remarks always sparkle negative emotions. I wasn’t there so I can’t say whose fault was it, probably both sides are to blame. However, I wouldn’t like the aggresive guys who travelled to Belfast to represent Poland in any other away game. The build up to the game was “ill”, somehow there weren’t any problems when we played in Dublin. The police also should be better prepared, they reacted well after the game when they didn’t allow the fans to meet.
@dmac
Those players backed up Leo because they are the mental leaders of the team. Guys like R.Lewandowski, Jelen, Roger or Bandrowski haven’t been in the team for that long and don’t have the respect that Zewlak or Krzyniu enjoy. It’s natural that the most influential and experienced players represent the team in front of the press.

By drewsky | March 31st, 2009 at 6:47 am

Death threats (RIP Boruc)against Boruc,Northern Ireland players like Feeney stoking up sectarian hatred saying (Windsor Park would be a mini Ibrox),during the match the atmosphere was poisonous and play had to be stopped when a linesman was struck by a coin from the crowd when Jelen tied it up.Not exactly surprising Boruc didnt play well.The media should be focusing on the anti-Catholic bigotry that underlies the persecution of Boruc and less on its effect on his performance.
When Rangers played Zenit in Manchester they started trouble and urinated over the entire town so they do have a sad history.The bigotry witnessed in Northern Ireland is very troubling.

Go Poland

Posted from United States

By drewsky | March 31st, 2009 at 7:01 am

26 attacks on Polish Homes have been reported thus far,these peaceful people are huge to the economy of Northen Ireland.The thugs are throwing huge stones through windows as they did to Boruc’s home before the match.The bigotry in Northern Ireland must be addressed.

Go Poland

Posted from United States

By M. Zurawski | March 31st, 2009 at 7:12 am

zaraza, i didn’t say they deserved to win, just that they won. And really, if you read his first post, he’s asking why WE are criticizing his team. Which we were, really. I don’t want to piss anyone off, i just want us to be a little delicate about certain things. The shit that has happened in N Ireland is not that far off from our own history. As for N Irish fans in Belfast attacking our supporters, yeah that sucks too, but that’s a risk you take when you travel, and it usually doesn’t happen without a reason, let’s be honest. Anyway, i’d really really like to think that this doesn’t turn even more sour when they come visit us in the fall.

By gregorio | March 31st, 2009 at 9:09 am

It’s not fair to downsize the N. Irealnd. The Pitch was shit, which it shouldn’t have been, but they siplmy didn’t make passes to the keeper in the light of the goal.
as for the first goal, they just took advantage of our miastakes, they can’t be blamed for that. when they needed another goal, they just scored it after previously-trained set piece, which is something we can’t do.
On the whole, they didn’t play great, but then they didn’t need more to grab the win and to me, that’s it.

the hooligans really are embarassing us abroad, but I don’t think we have more problems with violence in football then a typical European country.

Posted from Poland

By NornIron fan | March 31st, 2009 at 10:01 am

i didn’t mean to citisize the Polish team and i’m sorry if thats the way it came across, just that Poland didn’t deserve to win. as you say i cant see the return fixture being a repeat but who knows and hopefully i’ll be there!

3 years ago Poland came to our wee country and had the best of times and craic with them, everyone got along. this year, unfortuneately (as the PSNI have said) around 150 Polish fans travelled from the Republic of Ireland and mainland Britain solely intent on causing trouble. the response of locals to fight back was, yes, stupid but when a large group of thugs attacks teenagers and old men for no reason people are going to get pissed off. but the reaction of Belfast people to attack Polish homes is so stupid and shouldn’t happen i know. but just like in Poland a very small minority always discredit the majority.

the man who threw the coin was pointed out by everyone around him, including his mates, quicker than he could shit his pants. no-one wants that kind of thing here

hope the next NI-Poland match brings a better atmosphere in the city!

p.s. Boruc was targeted, again by a minority, because he plays for Celtic not because hes Catholic. alot the NI team is Catholic and most of the Rangers team is Catholic.

Posted from United Kingdom

By M. Zurawski | March 31st, 2009 at 10:15 am

Good, now we can all be friends again?

By NornIron fan | March 31st, 2009 at 10:21 am

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d28_1238448226

Polish fans and Northern Ireland fans taunting each other then it all kicks off

@Wejher – the fact is the Polish fans caused the response through bigotry. flags of a political party fronting the CIRA who shot dead a policeman, 2 soldiers and a POLISH delivery man (spot the irony) were flown to taunt the N.Irish fans and i can’t blame them for reacting (but do not condone attacking innocent Polish houses) its like us going to Poland and flying Nazi flags and swasticas.

Posted from United Kingdom

By NornIron fan | March 31st, 2009 at 10:25 am

of course! hopefully tension dies down and i can have a good time in Poland

i hear yous fancy yourselves as drinkers

Posted from United Kingdom

By adas | March 31st, 2009 at 11:14 am

Generally speaking, the hooligan types aren’t the smartest of people. That explains your irony. Secondly, we here who write on tomasz’s blog aren’t hooligans, don’t support the hooligans, and are ashamed by their actions. We can’t control them, they’re everywhere. The fact that you would bring it up was in poor taste as no one here condoned what they did.

By adas | March 31st, 2009 at 11:16 am

the drinking thing is a stereotype common in many european countries, and only stupid people would say something about themselves like that as though it were a positive thing.

By Wejher | March 31st, 2009 at 1:38 pm

Ok cool i over stepped the mark with that remark about stealing the country, but when your family have been the focus of racist attacks growing up in post war England then people might be as touchy about seeing Poles attacked for being Poles as i am, examples like houses going up for sale with the words “Poles and Blacks need not apply” This sends you one of two ways, change your name to a more english friendly name and conceal your true identity or as my family did stick together and become even more patriotic towards Poland. I’m so proud that I’m Polish i just wish just one of those players on saturday shown even half the pride i have, I think Beenhaker should get the boys training with ADAMEK and maybe watch a few of his bouts before the game… this way they may have some pride installed back into them.
PS. any idea how much i had my soul torn out after both Linekar and Scholes scored hattricks against us?

Posted from Greece

By drewsky | March 31st, 2009 at 2:25 pm

Adamek is a class act,he would be a wonderful example to follow.

Go Poland

Posted from United States

By LampardBlue | March 31st, 2009 at 3:55 pm

Fuck the N. Irish they are damnest pussies. Throwing chairs and shit use you fists you bloody pricks. You got lucky boruch was on a disgraceful day.

By Polis | March 31st, 2009 at 4:25 pm

http://www.sport.pl/pilka/0,65037.html
Beenhakker’s comments here sum up exactly what the problem is with our players

By WelshNornIronFan | April 9th, 2009 at 10:30 am

The ignorance, arrogance and downright stupidity of most of you Polish fans here saddens me greatly. Thankfully, most of you sound like children so I shall berate you no further. Polish people (1million) have been welcomed in my country with open arms and you have improved your lives and have improved the lives of your families back home but after reading some of the HATE on here…..well it beggars belief.

May you live in intersting times.

Posted from France