WTF happend to this forum?

[metros11]

there used to be a lot of people here. all of a sudden its dead. must be the fact that poles are playing ****************** soccer again.

[Zenit]

It is completely dead. I'm asking to have this merged in with the general Eastern Europe forum.

[Sopot26]

Off season in Poland. The extraklasa starts next month.

[pyrofreak2004]

yes.... not much to talk about w/o any futbol being played...

And we beat the US 3-1 so we're not playing ******** futbol again... Sweden is just a powerhouse and has been around for a while.......

[metros11]

Originally posted by pyrofreak2004
yes.... not much to talk about w/o any futbol being played...

And we beat the US 3-1 so we're not playing ******** futbol again... Sweden is just a powerhouse and has been around for a while.......

bwahahahaha.... just because you beat an over confident US team at the World Cup doesn't mean that you're not playing $h!tty futbol right now. And please, don't give me that "sweden is a powerhouse" bull$h!t, because we all know that Norway was supposed to be a powerhouse in the 2002 qualifiers.

[Polska]

Yeah Poland loses to powerhouses like Sweden.........and lets also not forget the powerhouse that is Latvia.......losing to them in Poland might I add..

[Snuffy]

Yeah, no reason to hide it, the Polish national team is awful right now and not looking to get any better (at least not in Euro 2002 qualifiers). Whether or not Sweden is a powerhouse, you have to look at how Poland played. Anyone can lose...anyone can lose even 3-0, but the way Poland played in that game it might as well have been 6-0. It was disgraceful.

The only thing that can save us now is a good foreign coach, which the corrupt a******s in the Polish federation refuse to do. It's ridiculous that a guy like Troussier is in Qatar, while we have some moron like Janas at the helm. Unbelievable.

Apart from a foreign coach, there's also Kasperczak, the only notable Polish coach with training and success outside the country. Maybe if they don't want a foreigner, they'll at least give him a go.

[metros11]

what about the guy who coached the team in the 2002 qualifiers?

[Snuffy]

Jerzy Engel - he did very well at the time, but after the win against Norway in which Poland clinched the place in the 2002 finals, he let the team go into disaray. He pretty much guaranteed everyone there at the time a place in the team, so many players stopped putting in an effort because they knew they were going to Korea already. Everybody, including Engel, became preoccupied with their own endorsement deals and TV appearences leading up to the World Cup (trying to make a quick buck) than they were w/ actually preparing for the games. So basically, the 8 months between qualification and the WC were completely lost. Hence, the poor showing. The only good game was vs the US, featuring mostly players who were always designated backups w/ nothing to lose. Engel is now sporting director at Legia Warsaw. He was a good tactician, but his behavior and indiscipline leading up to the WC are inexcusable for me.

Henryk Kasperczak learned the trade in France and is most noted for many successes coaching African national teams, including leading Tunisia to the World Cup and Mali to the finals of the African Cup (defeating Carlos Queiroz's S. Africa along the way). He was also responsible for Wisla Krakow's run in the UEFA Cup this year and was recently considered for the vacancy at PSG.

[pyrofreak2004]

I think Boniek did it...

ok... I admit... we're not exactly "top class" but we did get a couple nice victories back... kind of sucks losses followed them, but we did beat San Marino 5-0 and beating someone 5-0 is good for morale no matter who they are... at least we can score goals... maybe build off of that.... I also see that we have many new talents and it might take a while since there is some strange thing with us and the Greeks, so giving the new ones time hurts... maybe if we had the full 2002 NT, w/o any changes, we could have something to build on... but Boniek redid most of the NT, put some new faces, and left us gasping for air when he resigned... he was worse than Engel, at least in the beginning... when everyone gets good experience, then we can talk about getting better...

Come to think of it, we never fully reagained our reputation after the fall of Communism... did really well when communsim was around, just sucked after it fell...

[Sopot26]

What about the Olimpic Silver Medal. That was all Engel. Going to the WC, again Engel.

If you read the paper in Poland, the problem is Liskiewicz and not Engel and/or Boniek.

[Snuffy]

I agree, the federation (PZPN) is rotten, but so are the people they hire to coach because it's all an old boys network of self-adoration. It's all basically the same circle of people. They won't change anytime soon because in order for them to change, they'd have to throw themselves out and that's not likely to happen.

I still believe Engel should have been fired, but bringing in Boniek turned things even worse. He was a legendary player, but has had 0 success at the coaching level (I think he got both Bari and Lecce relegated in Serie A). He only got the job because he was Listkiewicz's crony - and now, they don't even get along. Janas has had coaching success (leading Legia to Champions League quarter finals in 96) but was plucked out of relative obscurity in recent years.

I don't think Polish football will have any consistent long term success until the PZPN becomes responsible and held accountable for their actions, perhaaps by a higher authority. Sure, a coach gets fired everytime the team fails to qualify for a tournament, but who holds the president of the federation responsible for continually chosing the wrong people?? Nobody.

[Sopot26]

You are mostly correct. But in regards to Boniek I have a different take. Boniek is a legend and has money. With Boniek successfully running around getting sponsors and trying to reform PZPN, he was becoming too powerful. Boniek also voted twice against firing Engel. But anyway he was getting to powerful. He wanted reforms, which meant all the old boys would not be getting paid. So Listkiewicz fired Elgel, convinced Boniek to run the team and the rest is history.

With Boniek discredited and conveniently out of the way, business is as usual at PZPN.

[Snuffy]

That could be true. Boniek did a good job as vice-president of PZPN, securing sponsorship and raising the profile of Polish soccer.

I definitely know Listkiewicz is as rotten as they get. He should be treated like a tumor and cut out.

[Sopot26]

I hope Wisla Krakow will excel in CL. At this point big money is being pumped into that team. One thing that rich people (corporation) do is they protect their investments. Maybe they can force PZPN to give up control and finaly give the power to "Liga Polska?"(I don't remember the name). I hope they see that this type of structure is the way to go. Just look at England, Spain,...

[Snuffy]

I think it will be very difficult, unless they luck out with a good draw. With Kuzba & Kosowski leaving, they'll definitely be weakened. So far they've brought in Wlodarczyk & Brasilia to replace them, but Wlodarczyk has had to go back to Lodz because apparently his free transfer isn't really free (???!!!). Now there's also talk of Kalu Uche moving to Ajax, but I don't think that will happen right away (at least not until the winter if Wisla get eliminated from Europe).

If anyone can lead them to success Kasperczak can, but it definitely won't be easy. A critical point will be their defence, and I'm surprised they've done nothing to improve it. It's been Wisla'a weak point for a long time and it's especially showing in recent pre-season friendlies in France. Glowacki & Basczynski are OK, but the rest is pretty worthless in my opinion (Jop, Stolarczyk). They need to buy someone.

[Sopot26]

You are correct about the defence. Who is in goal?

[Snuffy]

Adam Piekutowski, I think. He's Ok. Better than that calamity, Angelo Hugues. I'm still surprised they didn't buy Wierzchowski from Bremen.

Latest rumors regarding defence are that their negotiating to buy the Czech defender, Petr Gabriel, from Kaiserslautern.

Any idea on how long Glowacki is injured for?

[Sopot26]

The 24-year-old strained knee ligaments in training and will be unavailable for the matches, against as yet unnamed opponents, on 30 July and 6 August. "He is in Krakow undergoing tests and there is a strong possibility surgery will be needed," said a Wisla spokesman. Glowacki was a key player in Wisla's 2002/03 title-winning campaign.

Per UEFA

[Snuffy]

God, that guy is always injured!!!