As we all wait for Euro 2012, lets take a look at the historical players of one of the co-hosts (Poland). Perhaps the most well known Polish player is Zbigniew Boniek (one of the stars of the Grand Juventus side of the 1980's). However, he really wasn't part of the greatest Polish team in history, the 1974 World Cup squad. This team was considered by many to have been very unlucky to lose the "infamous" semi-final against West Germany. According to Franz Beckhenbauer himself (the 1974 West German captain): "If it wasn't for the long patches of water on the pitch which effectively killed their attacking game.... Poland would have destroyed us that day." Thus, it will never be known if this Poland team would have been able to overcome Holland in the 1974 WC final. However it was possible, becasue a year later (1975) they demolished Cruyff's Holland 4-1 in Euro 76 qualification. Poland's 82 WC team which also finished 3rd (and included Boniek) wasn't considered anywhere as good as the 74 team. Either way, lets look at Poland's All Time Team: STARTING 11 : (4-4-2) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. MLYNARCZYK (1982 WC Third Place, FC Porto EC win) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. GORGON (1974 WC Third Place) 4. ZMUDA (1974, 1982 WC Third Place) 5. SZYMANOWSKI (1974 WC Third Place) 3. MUSIAL (1974 WC Third Place) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. KASPERCZAK (1974, 1982 WC Third Place) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. BONIEK (1982 WC Third Place, Juventus EC win) 12. DEYNA (1974 WC Third Place... best player in Polish history) 14. WILIAMOWSKI (1938 WC scored 4 goals in a match vs Brazil) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 16. LATO (1974 WC Third Place and Golden Boot) 9. LUBANSKI (Missed the 1974 WC due to injury, but was even better than Lato.) -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bench: GK: Tomaszewski, DF: Oslizlo, Janas, MF Szoltysik, LW: Gadocha, RW: Brychczy, CF: Szarmach, Pol.
Good stuff. However, its Wilimowski, nor Wiliamowski. And as someone who would later play for the Third Reich NT I don't think he should be included him in the best ever Polish team. I also disagree about the best Polish player ever. Deyna was awesome, but only second best to Lubanski. Speak to someone who watched Poland NT matches in the early 70's and you will see; or better yet read the comments of those who played against him. But then again they were two very different kinds of players... And be careful about waging that war about the 1974 "semifinal". I've done it many times here before, only to be shot down by those who "know better". But of course we know that if it hadn't been for the Germans to purposefully leave the water on the pitch (hoping at least for a tie, which would assure them a place in the final), Poland would be the World Champion that year.
Btw, good job including Brychczy in the second eleven. Not many people know of him, but he certainly was the best Polish player of the 50's into the 60's. If Poland were to field a better team around him he would have been a household name throughout the world.
Damn these mods! There was an obvious reason why the OP posted this in the euro 2012 forum, and not in Poland forum. But obviously "sidspaceman" knows better! Thanks for nothing dude.
just as its obvious that everyone interested in euro2012 as such is interested in the history of a specific nations alltime best team? obviously we have different understandings of the word 'obviously'
I think that for now Robert should already be in the best lineup. He is the second scorer in history (only 2 goals less than Lubański) and is 8th on list of the biggest number of matches in the national team. Yet many in front of him, but he has a chance to become the best Polish player of all time.
how's he celebrated in Poland? i mean i can't imagine you or many nations outside the top 20 have had a player like him. Like Sweden has Zlatan for example. I'm amazed at Lewandowski's goal scoring stats.
Most fans in Poland love Robert. Besides being a great football player, he is also an intelligent and humble man. Really exemplary athlete. He is quite different from Zlatan, which I also like very much as a player.
And now he has the record. 51 goals as of right now. Amazing his goal scoring rate the last few years. It seems he's equally astounding for club and country.
Agree that Lewandowski might already be the best Polish player ever... but I'd wish he'd stop his bellyaching about how high he ends up on the FIFA best player list. He need to score some goals and lead his team to some wins in the BIG games. Until then he'll always come behind the guys with the BIG trophies.
Don't know where to put this, this thread seems most appropriate. A terribly sad story of Stan Terlecki. I had no idea he fell that low. A series of bad business decisions and a drinking problem led this one time Poland's Golden Boy to a situation where he couldn't even watch Poland's WC qualifiers because he didn't have electricity in his apartment for five months. In Polish. http://www.polsatsport.pl/wiadomosc...ikodem-czyli-przypowiesc-o-staszku-terleckim/
A sad ending... remember admiring him as a kid For a more balanced look at his life check out the so called ‘Okęcie Airport Incident’ where he and other players had a run in with the Commies
Youtube has the original footage of the incident. The commies made a big deal out of virtually nothing for their own reasons. Out of the four players involved Terlecki was the only one who never played for the NT again. I have a soft spot for him as he was the very first "famous" player that I ever met. At the height of his career he was sent to Gdansk to meet with local kids, and I was one of the "chosen ones."
Because they only chose the "best", and clearly you weren't one of them As to when it happened, I think it was in 1979, but not sure, could have been 1978. They chose from kids who played for local teams at the "Piastus" tournament in Gdansk Przymorze. The meeting was held at the Piastus Club. What I remember most about this meeting with Terlecki was that beforehand each one of us was given a list of questions to ask him, and that Stan himself was wearing white socks, which were not a very common commodity those days in Poland.
Hernan Crespo, Paulo Dybala, Diego Klimowicz, Christoph Dabrowski, Paul Freier, Lukas Podolski, Piotr Trochowski, Laywin Kurzawa, Raymond Kopa, Laurent Koscielny, Ludovic Obraniak, Youri Djorkaeff, Tomasz Radzinski, Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, Victor Sikora, Laszlo Kubala, Peter and Kasper Schmeichel, Ivica Osim and plenty others. With better scouting over decades, they could be in Poland.
Good list. Obraniak actually did play for Poland with 34 caps. And Kurzawa did play for Poland as well...not Layvin but Rafal
Yes, Obraniak was solid in French league. But you could get better ones than Perquis. Lets not forget about Miroslav Klose. Abramczik? Tim Borowski Ulrich Borowka Dieter Burdenski Jurgen Grabowski Erich Juskowiak Stanislaus Kobierski Harald Konopka Heinz Kwiatkowski Pierre Littbarski Reinhard Libuda Gunter Sawitzki Szepan, Szymaniak, Tilkowski Paul Zielinski, and many others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Germany_international_footballers If you observe German NT and their players, you can see many non-German surnames from Poland mostly and Czech Republic in some aspects. I don't know how you consider Kashubians, Silesians, Masurians, Kursenieki, Karaims... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_minorities_in_Poland Silesians are Germans. But there are groups who are much closer to Poles. I don't understand Polish football strategy, many teams collect players from all countries. Leon Goretzka sounds Polish also. Gorecka? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Goretzka German surnames who have -tz- in the middle or at the end are Slavic surnames. Poland is a regular participant of World Cups, EURO's....so their Football Federation could enlarge that pool of talented footballers or other countries will build their reputation with Polish players. Relative of Ladislao Mazurkievicz lives in Croatia. Her origins are from Bosnia...but surname reveals her Polish origins. https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanka_Mazurkijević Imagine that all these players played for Poland? Poland would be among top football nations. In USA there are thousands of Polish people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Polish_Americans
Well, just because someone has a Polish-sounding last name doesn't mean that they are Polish, or identify themselves with Poland. General Bach-Zelewski for instance was the German Nazi general who was in charge of putting down the Warsaw Uprising... Anyway, the whole thing of importing(?) players with Polish ancestry has died down after Nawalka took over as NT coach and the team began to have some success on the international stage. Dybala was the last one that that I am aware that Poland went after, but it was a half-assed effort; they actually contacted him via facebook in broken English and were widely ridiculed for doing so in such a lame way. My view is that now (within the last 10 years) Poland has re-developed its soccer infrastructure to such a level that foreign-born players are not necessary for the NT to be successful. If they feel that they are connected to Poland and that they are good enough, they should make the effort to join the Polish NT, not the other way around. However, I have no problem with someone in PZPN letting them know that they may be eligible to play for Poland by the virtue of their ancestry. "Silesians are Germans" Absolutely incorrect. There are three types of Silesians living in Poland: those who think of themselves as Silesians first, as Polish, or as German. Most of them identify with Poland, for a variety of reasons. The Silesian nationalists are a vocal but small group. Additionally, there is a large minority of Germans in Silesia in Poland, but they are ethnic Germans, not Silesians.
Polish people are well attached to their origins. For example Russian composer Shostakovich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich He is Szostakowicz for real. Polish roots from Belarus. Polish influence was spreading a lot during Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth. Kiev was in Poland for example between the World Wars. 18th century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland#/media/File:Rzeczpospolita_Rozbiory_3.png Borders changed through periods, but people remained. Igor Stravinsky also Polish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky If they don't care, why is this remembered in history. The problem with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus is the fact that their surnames sound similar in some linguistic aspects. This is much easier to follow in Germanic world. Even in Imperial Russia, Polish people had influence there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Imperial_Russian_people_of_Polish_descent On the other hand, lesser number demonstrates Poles of Russian descent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Polish_people_of_Russian_descent Poles in Ukraine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ukrainian_people_of_Polish_descent Belarus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Belarusian_people_of_Polish_descent Lithuania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-Lithuanian_identity I read somewhere that Polish surnames which end on -wicz have Lithuanian origins. Some Polish people were oriented to Germany, some to eastern countries...this happened in all eastern, central European countries. Pro et contra. But the same ethnic group. Matter of personal interest. Zelewski was Kashubian. In his biography, he manipulated with his roots. Obvious personal interest. There are many people who don't have any national sentiment. Read his biography. He even removed his Zelewski surname, added von Bach in 1933. Many Poles have German ancestry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Polish_people_of_German_descent Footballer Kamil Glik. Glik means Luck in German. It should be Gluck with two little dots above the letter U. I think that people mostly follow their personal interests and they try to achieve everything possible. If Polish people live in Russia, Germany, Ukraine, USA, Argentina, they will try to achieve their dreams in those countries. Leon Goretzka will achieve his dreams in German NT. Many Poles came in Germany in regions Ruhr, Saar as workers with gas, coal. Goretzka was born in Bochum, Ruhr area. His father is Konrad Goretzka. I think that his roots could be from 19th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_in_Germany Partitions of Poland is a key moment. Basketballer Dirk Nowitzki - Czech or Polish surname. Original surname of Sebastian Boenisch is Pniowski. But he said that his ancestor was German. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Boenisch Pniowski was changed into Boenisch to sound more German. Why would he play for Poland if he doesn't know Polish at all. Complicated stories. Imagine how was this complicated to known people who had social reputation. Psychological issue of ethnic negation. Dybala is also Italian, born in Argentina, with Polish surname. Also complicated. Why would he adore Poland more than Italy or Argentina. This is much easier if they have much higher percent of Polish heritage. Poland needs to make efforts in their closer area Ukraine, Germany, Russia, Hungary, Czech, Slovakia, Lithuania. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balázs_Dzsudzsák I though that he is Ukrainian, because he was born closer to Ukrainian border. Basketballers, excellent ones in European circumstances. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kšyštof_Lavrinovič https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darjuš_Lavrinovič https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavrinovič I thought that Silesians are mostly Germans. So Germans lived in Lower Silesia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesian_language Silesian language similar to Polish. In today's Poland existed White Croatia and White Serbia also. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Croatia Interesting how new types of maps can create complications to ordinary people. But the idea of attracting Polish people from abroad seems interesting for Polish football, basketball. Coach K. from USA NT. He is also Polish. No one can say his surname correctly, so people call him Coach K. It's Kshishevski I think.