Preliminary Call Ups For The Greece Friendly. Obraniak Is On The Board.

Obraniak interview:
“A lot of my family, including my parents, will come to Poland to watch because it means a lot to all of us,” he said. “Years ago my grandfather brought a Poland shirt to France and we kept it like a holy relic. I had thought for years it would be great to wear a Poland shirt one day and now the dream can come true.”
“I will not give 100 per cent for Poland, I will double that effort – it will be 200 per cent.”
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/worldcup/news/kind=1/newsid=858158.html

Posted from  Canada

I like the idea of Krzynowek competing for the left side defender.
I say play your best 11 players on the field even if they are slightly out of position.
I remember Kuba starting as a right side defender for Borussia a while ago.
I am not suggesting playing Kuba there, but get your best players on the field.

Why was Piszczek not called up? very strange decision from Leo.

Posted from  United States

Lech Poznan wins the Polish SuperCup on penalties against Wisla Krakow
1-1 Fulltime
4-3 Shootout

Majewski scored on his debut for Notts forest, I’m not of the same opinion as Tomasz that he will struggle, I think he might take time to adjust to the speed of the play but i dont think its too physical people say that about the Prem too but look when Juninhio played for Boro, He’s only 5′3″ and now you have Wright-phillips another tiny footballer, its not to Physical thats an excuse its just a case of adjusting. As a Bristol City supporter all my life i closely follow that division and i can tell you that its not all hit and hope, a few of the bottom teams maybe but certainly not the majority of teams. You just need to look at the teams in the division to see that its quite a quality league that i would say is on a par with the Scottish Prem if not the majority of teams are better than all but Celtic and Rangers. I think the Championship will do Majewski and in turn Poland some good favours if he trains hard and stays disaplined then its a good young age to develop over there and if he can create as many chances as he did against the england under 21’s (who were’nt too physical for him) then i think Notts Forest will have a quality player in their ranks this year.

Posted from  Greece

I’ve just learned that FIFA passed new rules last year which would make it very difficult for other countries to steal our talent. Apparently, players who move to another country, even at a very young age, will be barred from playing for that country until the age of 23, unless they have a parent and grandparent who was born there. I’m glad they brought in this rule, international football was turning into a farce with the number of players making their choice based on financial reasons, glory-hunting or a feeling of obligation, instead of more honest reasons.

Posted from  Canada

I’ve been thinking of registering at the PilkaNozna forum but geez, they’re not very nice to people who can’t speak flawless Polish… Apparently Jastkowice’s posts (who also posts at the English-language forum PolishSoccer) are a “prowokacja”…
http://forum.pilkanozna.pl/viewtopic.php?t=21323&start=2560
Wow. Are they like completely clueless? Do they not realize that that there are a lot of Polish kids raised abroad whose Polish may be poor but who but are still interested in Poland and would like to post on Polish-language forums? Why are they so rude to people who don’t speak perfect Polish?

Posted from  Canada

Probably because there are a lot of people who make fun of them for their not perfect English. Its called payback. Or maybe they’re just jealous.

They just though “here we go. another troll on the board”.

@ zaraza

dont be surprised, everytime i go on a polish site and look at the forums all they do is insult and curse each other, well most of the time and for stupid reasons. So dont worry about the people from the motherland, theyre a little different in how they do business, its a different mentality of looking at things. Not everyone in Poland writes or speaks in flawless Polish either, When I was in Poland alot of people and friends i talked to in person or on the computer have made mistakes, we have a hard language.

pozdro

Maybe “prowokacja” has meaning differentin Język Polski, as it translates to “provocation” in English. A “provocateur” is often good thing to be: a writer, artist, political activist, etc. whose works, ideas, or activities are regarded as a threat to accepted values or practices.

Seems like every Polish American i know has many good thoughts for the people of Poland, and are very proud of their Polish” ancestry. So it’s always a bummer, or actually sucks, when I hear about this kind of trash talk about whether the certain groups of the diaspora are “polish enough” or even Polish at all.

Posted from  United States

It will be great to see the Poland “A” squad back in action. Too bad if we don’t see Jelen. Didn’t he recently have a post season surgery. Don’t recall why; was a concern especially while he is on top of his game, is the current contusion part of that? Or hope trainers, medic staff or Irek himself didn’t push on too quickly after a surgery. He should rest then, we know what he can do. He was in great physical condition (obvious if you compared this season to earlier pictures of him) so hope he keeps up good conditioning and he should be fine.

Paradowski – in response to your first comments I had new arrivals from the motherland tell me I was not Polish because I have lived in the U.S. too long (>35 years) even though I was born in Poland and speak only Polish with my parents.
I grew up in a mixed Polish, Italian, Greek area and my Italian friends never heard from other Italians that they were not Italian enough.
It must be a Polish thing- and you are correct it does suck to hear that.

Posted from  United States

Yea I worked at a Polish club one time and not many Polish people liked me. I think alot has to do with knowing the language, which I was learning preety well at the time. It was bad sometimes because they would want me to speak in Polish and I couldn’t but when they spoke I could understand them, so they thought I was busting there chops or was embarrested to speak it . But the truth was I never learned when I was young and had to start from scratch. But I still try I was just on you tube going over the colors, but yea Polish is a very hard language esp. when you have onone to practice with.

Posted from  United States

Yeah i know where you guys are coming from. I was born in Brooklyn but my parents just in the country for maybe 5 years. I understand Polish almost perfect just have a hard time pronouncing alot of the language correctly. So when i was in Polish school on saturday mornings some kids would bust my balls because i said words incorrectly but most of them couldnt form a sentence in English. So i blew Polish school off just messed around while 80% of the class took it extremely serious. It really is a tough language and i still struggle with my Polish. It just annoying how Poles treat Americanized Polish people or of any other nation.

I’ve worked hard to improve my Polish but I still make mistakes in practically every sentence, it’s just a very difficult language. Apparently they banned that kid on PilkaNozna forum, guess I shouldn’t bother registering, I’d be banned in an instant. I’ve noticed other Polish forums also require people to write in correct Polish. Pretty crazy policy.. being treated like this certainly won’t encourage the many Polish kids raised abroad to stay connected with the culture.

Posted from  Canada

Szczesny played 45 minutes in a friendly against Hannover, apparently he shows a lot of potential, here are a couple comments:
“Forgot to mention that I was impressed with Szczesny again… He is a real athlete, I think he could be an option for the future, he looks awesome already.”
“he’s really good at reading game, knowing when to come out, good positioning and tough mentality”
http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=39762&start=150

Augustyn – 55 minutes against Utrecht, it appears he played very well:
“Tra i migliori in campo il sorprendente Augustyn.”
-One of the best on the pitch, the surprising Augustyn.
http://www.itasportpress.it/?action=read&idnotizia=10689

Also a lot of praise here:
http://www.catania46.net/ct46/blgwp/?p=3294
http://translate.google.ca/translate_t#

Perhaps we’ll see him debut in Serie A even this season. His lack of experience will probably hamper his case though.

Posted from  Canada

Sorry for triple-posting..
Majewski played well in a friendly against Premiership side Stoke City:
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/homesport/Report-Nottingham-Forest-1-Stoke-City-1/article-1209198-detail/article.html
“But it was an incisive flourish from Forest that brought about the breakthrough in the 30th minute. Polish international Radoslaw Majewski demonstrated his potential as he lofted a beautiful ball over the top of the Stoke defence for McGoldrick. The striker was left to supply a straight-forward headed finish into the top corner.”

Posted from  Canada

I think Majewski is going about it the right way. Our boys can play. We may think they can’t, after a mistake or two, but they can play. I guess for them to succeed in the English game they have to pay their dues in the lower divisions first. Establish themselves and earn the respect of their peers and coaches around the leagues. When Smolarek went over he was a relatively unknown in the eyes of the Brits. That is why it was a shock for him at the way he was treated. He failed to make the best of a tough situation because he felt that he deserved playing time, instead of earning it. What do the Brits know about Polish football? They see Rasiak and Saganowski and think that is where the EK level is at. I hope Majewski can keep being a pleasant surprise.

Mixed results from today’s Europa league games, but mostly good.

Polonia 0:1 NAC – I did not expect much from Polonia- they have a 20% chance to get a good result at NAC.

Brondby 1:1 Legia – nice result from an away game – (Mucha player of the game)75% chance of advancing into next round.

Fredrikstad 1:6 Lech – great game – 100% chance of advancing. Well done.
Nice goal from Wilk.

Posted from  United States

No need to apologize for triple posting, as several folks have from time to time, because the contributions have been great information! Now me, I’ll be careful not to triple post, because I get more information than provide on this WC blog. For now while not much is happening, I will add: it was good to read the posts above about the (lack of) acceptance of americanize poles. zaraza, you have a lot to offer so I’d encourage you to give the ‘tylko Polski’ (?) forum a try. From comments above, you guys can all at least say for sure, you are at least not so Americanized as that Paradowski guy. But if a Polish connection in spite of historical longevity could ever count for something…. When I touch Poland someday It will be the first time in >120 y that my direct ancestors stepped foot on the motherland, the fatherland. My problem is I know the history well and it helps me to understand myself. When I get to Poland someday, I will speak as little as possible, … even still with ancestry that includes Paradowski, Feykowski, Lewandowski, and Pokorny, and others, I should at least blend in.

Paradowski – I think you will be treated very kindly, you will not have to worry about blending in. In my experience American visitors in the old days (before 1990) would attract a crowd in a small town or village. Today I do not believe that would happen but I believe you would be welcomed very warmly. Last time I visited Poland was in 1997 and I had a great time in Krakow & Zakopane.
For you to still have a connection to Poland after >120 years is a great tribute to your grandparents and great grandparents.
Maybe your first trip to Poland will be to see the NT play in 2012.

Posted from  United States

Thanks for the note JZ. That was my hope and usual impression, I must have let the restrictive forum stuff bother me too much. My father wanted to go to Poland but as he and mom did most their travel before 1990 they decided to visit shrines in other parts of Europe. Euro 2012 w Polska to see the Biało-Czerwoni is definitely on my mind!!! thanks again — Cheers!

hey guys,

I have been recently reading your comments. It deff. sucks that these polish forums have rules like this. Instead of courting non perfect speaking poles away from them, they should be asking them to come to them. They should want as many poles around the world to feel connected to the culture. This is one of the things that the PZPN is trying to do for the NT. They want footballers to feel connected to Poland, so they will want to represent Poland on the national level. The reasoning for thier strict rules could just be due to thier lack of english ability or jelousy. I was born in poland in 1990 and moved to the US rather quickly. Luckily im a decent writer and fluent speaker. Whenever I go back to poland the people are always friendly, and give warm welcomes. It is just a select few online in thier forums that think they are better. Glad to see you guys not taking such deep insult from this. Also, I would like to thank you guys for the constant updates.

According to this site: http://www.polskieradio.pl/thenews/sport/artykul112625_beenhakker_announces_squad_for_greece_friendly.html

Jakub Wawrzyniak was also called up

Did you guys watch the first round of the Ekstraklasa? I generally liked what I saw from the level of play. It was more free flowing without the usual hard fouls. Overall it was enjoyable to watch. I was really impressed with Roman Maciejak and Kamil Glik of Piast Gliwice. Now I see what the fuss was about regarding Glik.

I also had a chance to see the Legia – Zagłębie Lubin game. That stadium is really coming together. It looks massive. It was wicked to see the construction workers just chilling and watching the game. I like that Legia played a lot of young players. Rybus and Borysiuk really stood out. Borysiuk is a special player. He was everywhere on the pitch. It was quite refreshing to see such a young player playing so well for the senior side. His hard work and overall effort was spectacular. He looks comfortable with the ball and is not fazed by pressure. He makes accurate passes, which is nice to see. Adrian Paluchowski also had a great game. He displayed impressive pace and an ability to go at defenders and still finish. Szymon Pawłowski for Zagłębie Lubin is worth a mention as well. The only negative about him is that he has picked up some bad habits playing in the lower division.

Considering the off field mess of the PZPN and the EK, it was really nice to watch football again. Overall I like the direction of the Ekstraklasa.