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Poland Written Off By “Experts”.

June 3rd, 2008 | By: tomasz | 16 Comments »

I hope that Leo and the players don’t surf the net in search of how their tournament chances are viewed by the worldwide press. The general feeling among experts and bloggers (should I use it interchangably?) is that Poland will rival Austria to avoid being the worst team in the tournament.

And I’m not talking about experts such as the guy who writes as developed opinions as ‘Poland sucks’ under my posts. These are mostly people who know their football (that doesn’t necessary include knowing Polish football). Here are some excerpts:
Critical Culture:

The mistake some people make when they give Poland any kind of shot in this group goes like this: Poland won its Euro qualifying group over Portugal and Serbia; this means they’re a good team; hence, while I don’t know any of their players, they must either have a few unknown stars or have great teamwork. Nothing could be further from the truth. None of Poland’s players are good; only Jacek Krzynowek is above average. And the team plays awful team football, with the biggest weakness being team defense, led by 35-year old Jacek Bak, whose apt surname means “fart” in Polish. Ebi Smolarek, meanwhile, the team’s leading scorer, sometimes plays for Racing Santander—and he’s the pinnacle of Polish outfield players abroad! Even in net, Artur Boruc is wholly unpredictable, while the Manchester United and Arsenal boys merely warm their respective benches. Poland out in three.

None of the players are good? What’s this awful team football? Isn’t football a team sport? Nobody calls Jacek Bak a “fart” in Poland, his popular nickname is Komar (a Mosquito).

Who Ate All The Pies haven’t managed to publish a note about Poland yet, but the one about Austria shows what we are in for:

They may be ranked 101 in the world by FIFA, but they’re not quite that bad, although they certainly have the weakest squad at the finals. However, being host can do strange things to a country. I doubt the Austrians will lose all three of their games, and could seem them beating Poland to snatch third place in the group. But I really can’t see them getting past Germany or Croatia, although they could muster a draw against the latter. Third in group.

Allright, we’ll lose against Austria and become the worse team in the Euros. Nice.

The most objective view on the Polish team comes from Guardian. This doesn’t stop them from writing that avoiding embarassment will be our biggest success. Here are some excerpts:

(…) A 1-1 draw against FYR Macedonia and an unconvincing 1-0 win over Albania this week have done little to lift the spirits. Radoslaw Matusiak, who scored the equaliser against Macedonia with a late penalty, didn’t even make the final 23 that was announced yesterday (…) Beenhakker has made the right noises about replicating Poland’s successes of the 70s and 80s, but not even he would try to claim that the present squad is anywhere near the equal of those that finished third in the World Cup finals of 1974 and 1982. “Things are changing quickly in Poland,” he has said, but not that quickly. It is a measure of his concern that he has pushed through the naturalisation of Roger Guerreiro, a left-winger who was born in Sao Paulo and only arrived in Poland in 2006 (…) Amid all the boundary-hopping it is perhaps not surprising that Poland’s hopes of rising above the gloomy predictions of their fans probably lie with Ebi Smolarek (…) If the Racing Santander forward is not on song, though, it is difficult to see where the goals will come from. Certainly not from Maciej Zurawski, who continues to lead the line despite looking every second of his 31 years. To point out that he has long since ceased to be prolific is to miss the point a little, though, for his role now is to provide a focal point around which Poland’s crop of pacy attacking midfielders can buzz (…) With Croatia missing Eduardo da Silva, Poland could conceivably steal into the quarter-finals, but given the experience of the last two World Cups, avoiding embarrassment would probably satisfy expectations.

To top it all up Wyborcza’s Rafal Stec writes today on his blog that La Gazetta dello Sport listed us as the second cheapest team in their fantasy football game (guess who’s the cheapest). Let’s face it, we’re considered a punching bag by the whole of Europe.

You know what, forget about what I wrote in the beginning of the note. Let’s show all those opinions to Leo and the players. Make them pissed off, make them hyped. Look out Germans, Croats and Austrians, the likes of Wasyl and Lewy will eat your heart out!

Tags: Austria, Beenhakker, blogs, Group A, Poland, press

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Comments

By gregorio | June 3rd, 2008 at 6:50 am

I’m not really surprised with those opinions. we’ve been through this ourselves. It’s like the foreign experts are one step behind what’s going on in our team.
we stand no chance, as we have no stars and our team play sucks. – I remember similar article in our press, when we begun to win in the qualifications and nobody really knew why. now, nobody cares why, but we all know that despite it all, we c a n win win stronger teams.
let’s not expect foreigners to understand our situation. even we have difficulties with it. I think we’re just such an irrational nation, that no reasonalbe analisys can work. and let’s not expect foreigners to understand t h e l e o’s f a c t o r.

Posted from Poland

By drewsky | June 3rd, 2008 at 6:58 am

Excellent work again.It’s not even funny the lack of respect for Poland in every facet of life (not just sport).It seems Poland is never recognized for it’s contributions to this world we live in (and there are many contributions).There has been a propoganda used against Poland by the Germans and also by the West after Poland was shafted (and you all know what I mean).It has been 18 years since Poland has finally tasted freedom and you can see things have changed.This time in Poland’s history we are finally on equal footing.Things in life are fate.Leo is a Godsend.

There is a slow

there is a slow train

comin

Posted from United States

By thorgie | June 3rd, 2008 at 7:39 am

do not pay attention to what other ppl say. just do your job. they wrote the same about greece when they lost all their preparation games for the euro2004. we have to earn respect not by denial but putting the words into action. we all believe in you, guys!

By j | June 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 am

I’m not sure how anyone can overlook Poland. While other squads boast big-name stars, few have shown the ability to play together as a team. The experience of the squad makes them a real threat and with miracle worker Leo Beenhakker in-charge, anything is possible. The obvious deciding match appears to against Croatia on the 16th.

Btw, while I’m not in favor of choosing citizenship as with Roger Guerreiro but isn’t that a bit sanctimonious by the Guardian when there has been talk of giving the armband to Owen Hargreaves who was born and raised in Calgary, Canada?

Do you feel they are better suited in the 4-3-3 or 4-4-2?

By tomasz | June 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 am

Actually, I find it a positive symptom that everybody is writing us off. Polish players feel best when they are in a position of an underdog. I also agree with Gregorio that it is sometimes hard to explain our results, it was especially so in Janas’ era. Now, I’d like to believe that Leo planned most of it. At least we’ve got a certain philosophy of play (keep the ball etc.) that was not to be observed even in Janas’ best matches. Moreover, I think that the players are more laid back this time around; they’ll surely not care about what’s written about them. And those articles can only be used as motivation before the games.
@j
We, as well as Austrians, can defeat our opponents only through perfect physical preparation and organization of play. In terms of pure skills we’re behind Germany as well as Croatia. But this is what I like about football, an inferior team can win as long as it employs a good strategy. Luck is also an important factor of course. I think we’ll play 4-5-1, two defensive midfielders, one central attacking midfielder, two wingers that I wouldn’t necessarily call attackers as they have defensive responsibilities as well. We can’t afford two play 2 strikers plus Roger as then we wouldn’t be able to keep the ball and would have to rely only on counters.

Posted from Poland

By j | June 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am

I think everyone is underestimating the “team play” aspect to be honest and for the most part all we’ve seen so far is individual play. The top clubs (i.e. Italy, Spain, Germany and France) have mostly been experimenting with combinations which in someways has lulled you to sleep. This is one of the reasons why I feel Russia can be the big shocker as the familiarity of play will weigh heavily.

A 4-5-1 as you suggest would be interesting and certainly could make for quite an interesting series of tactical match-ups. With Polands pace, the counter-attack would be something every team would need to be wary of. While it won’t happen at these Euros, it would be great to see Poland – Russia and the speed of both midfields.

By tomasz | June 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm

The pace that you write about is currently lacking in the Polish team. That was our problem in the last friendlies; we were able to keep the ball for large periods of time but we were unable to speed up the game or change its tempo with a more surprising play. But counter attack is in Polish blood so I’m sure that we’ll be dangerous in this aspect. I’m also putting my money on Russia to be the most organized team in the tournament.

Posted from Poland

By Ian Rose | June 3rd, 2008 at 4:42 pm

Critical Culture is really hard on Boruc. “Wholly unpredictable”? He has made mistakes, but even the best keepers in the world can say that. He’s taken Celtic to the last 16 of the CL two years running, and done some fine stopping in both those runs. He’s one of the two or three guys I would want in my net for penalties (other being Van der Sar and Casillas). For their only comment about him to be “unpredictable” is unfairly harsh.

By disilluso | June 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm

I’m Italian but I’m even a Poland fan because I have some friends in this country.
The Gazzetta dello Sport fantasy game is a game made by some fool that has never watched a game of Poland and many other teams (for example they list Ebi as a midfielder and, in other teams, Afellay is listed as a defender and Kallstrom as a striker).
However I have to confirm your sensations: many journalists around the continent and expecially in many country says that Poland will be the worst team at this tournament.
IMHO it’s due to their passion for offensive play: all experts know that Leo is a defensive coach and they think that he will decrease the show in your games.
Obviously I disagree with the conception “football is mostly a show to sell” but sadly this is the most important thing for the press.
Finally I hope that your team and Croatia will eliminate Germany, it isn’t too difficult. Good luck!

By disilluso | June 3rd, 2008 at 5:05 pm

sorry
…and expecially in many country says…
=
…and expecially in MY country says…

By nick | June 3rd, 2008 at 11:18 pm

this kind of stuff fucks me off. we will beat germany and then we’ll see whos laughing hahahahahahahahahahaha

Posted from New Zealand

By Fred | June 4th, 2008 at 6:48 am

I’m pulling for you guys to beat Germany. I want Croatia and Poland through to the quarters.

Posted from Canada

By AndreasGryphius | June 4th, 2008 at 9:03 am

London bookmakers have Germany as top favourite for the Cup.

By anonymous | June 4th, 2008 at 9:55 am

ever since this, I have fallen in love with Poland: http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=afp-fbleuro2008polreligion&prov=afp&type=lgns

I mean, who can’t love a country like that?

By tomasz | June 4th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

Thanks for all the support. Generally, Poland has one of the best supporters in the world, you’ll see it this time (provided they get tickets). Some of you may remember our great fans from the last WC (the only Poles worth watching).
@anonymous
Poland is 90% catholic but only 40% go to church every sunday