Rasiak Disappointed With Beenhakker. I’m Disappointed With Rasiak.

At last I’ve got an excuse to write a note about Grzegorz Rasiak, one of the most controversial characters in Polish football. Rasinho expressed his disappointment about being left out of Leo’s initial squad for the Euros. His omission was hardly a surprise as he’s not having what can be considered a great season.

Rasiak is the most laughed at player in the history of Polish football, a sort of a cult anti-hero. New jokes about Grzegorz’s skills are invented all the time and it’s easy to find Rasiak haters everywhere on the net. The emergence of the internet itself, in my opinion, played a crucial role in spreading his name across the land. He got his own song before the 2006’s World Cup (I won’t provide you with a link as it is rather pathetic and simply not funny). Hey, even my mother recognizes him. Rasiak himself dealt with the ‘popularity’ and critique quite well, at least in the interviews. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to prove his critics wrong on the field.

The problem with Rasiak is that he’s not as bad as he’s pictured but at the same time he’s not good enough to play in the Premiership or on the international level. He did ok and scored regularly in the Polish league and in Championship but he failed to convince anybody in the English top class or during the national team matches. I used to support him and believe in him, especially when he played for Derby County. The 2005’s transfer to Tottenham seemed perfect for him, it seemed that he fooled his critics, it seemed that he’s got some hidden potential. After all, Tottenham wouldn’t pay more then 2m euros for a crappy player. Unfortunately, the level of Premiership was just million light years ahead of him. At this point it was clear that he’s a great player, but only for technical-skills-free Championship teams. Moreover, he’s never really impressed in the national team, even though he had thirty seven chances to do that. He scored eight goals for Poland, none of them in a competetive game. Even one of his biggest admirers, Pawel Janas, didn’t give him a proper chance in Germany. Grzegorz was also given a fair chance from Beenhakker but failed once again to establish himself in the team. For me Rasiak will always be a symbol of unfulfilled expectations.

I think that Rasiak’s time in the national team has come to an end. His omission from the initial Euro squad didn’t surprise anybody and noone advocated him after Leo published his list. I understand his frustration as there are seven strikers called up and Marek Saganowski is having even a worse season than he does. Rasiak will probably play some more games for Poland, depending on how he plays on the club level, but his time as Poland’s starting striker are over. Mind you, he can still become a part of Polish football history if he scores a first Polish goal in the Premiership since 1992.

Just think how far would Rasialdo go if he could repeat those plays: goal of the week for Derby, a great goal against Faroe Isles, and a superb assist against Portugal.