Rebajlo, while i full heartedly agree with you on most of your points (don't get me started on Murawski - Matuszczyk or Borysiuk, hell, anyone else would have been better!) i can't comprehend your hatred towards our stranieri. they are all white, they all have Polish roots, they try and speak some Polish, which is not an easy feat, and they are very good players. you can't complain about Perquis or Polanski, and Boenisch, for a guy after such a heavy and long injury did quite well (albeit looking stiff and slowish). Polanski played real well, with lots of heart, same as Perquis.
Brozek... i can't understand why he was even on this team, he's done for!
other than Murawski and Brozek, i thought Smuda actually did a good job selecting players, too bad he is too stupid of a coach to actually plan a winning tactics and too cowardly to try and attack!
backrow -
I reckon we'll just have to respectfully disagree about the inclusion of the four "foreigners". You used the term
stranieri. We aren't talking about Italian club football, mate :icon_wink:. People made a big deal about Perquis and Obraniak singing the national anthem but they simply learned it by rote and probably don't even know the meaning of most of the words, let alone their significance. One can
sing an anthem (even while butchering the language), but one can't
feel the anthem. To such mercenaries, the national anthem is just another song, which they were doubtlessly forced to learn in order for both them and the PZPN to get on the right side of the fans. The fans, of course, will swallow anything short of a c-o-c-k if they believe that it "improves" their team.
Perquis only indicated an interest in playing for Poland when he was 24 years old. In fact, you may recall that he looked like a prize fool upon being initially interviewed (naturally, in English) by Polish journalists, as he knew virtually nothing about Polish football and couldn't even name the national team manager. Some "Pole", eh? Oh, but now he's
sooooooo proud to represent Poland. He's so ****ing patriotic that he even knows how to say "hello", "I proud play for Poland" and "we play match good" in the tongue of the nation whose colours he wears.
Obraniak's profoundly Polish soul manifested itself even earlier, if such a thing can be imagined - at the remarkably tender age of 23. Funnily enough, both of these "Poles" loved Poland so much that they played for the French U-21 side.
When it comes to Polanski and Boenisch, sure, they were both born in Poland, but so what? They represented Germany at U-21 level and - most tellingly - each player stated that he did not wish to play for Poland and would remain "German". Good for them, as their families had left Poland when they were kids, yet such actions and words should surely be enough to forever close the door on the "option" of playing for Poland. Correct? Now that they've turned their figurative cloaks, they insist on dismissing what was said "in the past" in order to concentrate on the "present". How cosily convenient...
As in the case of "our" Frenchmen, Polanski and Boenisch (typical Polish name, by the way...) only "declared" for Poland because they weren't being selected for their own nations. That Poland was co-hosting the European Championship and was therefore guaranteed a place in the tournament also helped these arseholes to "rediscover" their so-called Polish roots...
Do You really wish to see the Polish national team follow the same path as that of Ireland? Back in the days when Ireland was managed by Jackie Charlton, the English media often derisively referred to the FAI (Football Association of Ireland) as "Find Another Irishman" due to it's enthusiastic "recruitment" of players with "Irish roots". The likes of Mick McCarthy (born in Barnsley, Irish father), Ray Houghton (born in Glasgow, Irish father), John Aldridge (born in Liverpool, Irish great-grandmother), and Andy Townsend (born in Kent, Irish grandmother) all played for the Republic. Then there was the case of Tony Cascarino, who was born in Kent, but "qualified" via his Irish maternal grandfather. It was later revealed that his mother was adopted, so Cascarino actually had no connection to Ireland - yet he won 88 caps...
The majority of blindly loyal Irish fans didn't mind and predictably lapped it all up, but not all Irishmen were keen on such a policy. In my younger days (****, I'm sounding like some kind of old man...) i often moved in Irish circles and many hader-core nationalists abhorred the notion of "plastic Paddies" representing their country.
Six members of Ireland's Euro 2012 squad were foreign born: Sean St. Ledger, Simon Cox, and Paul Green all have a single Irish grandparent; Aiden McGeady and reserve goalkeeper Keiren Westwood both have two Irish grandparents; while Jonathan Walters' mother is Irish.
Of those six, Aiden McGeady stands out because unlike the rest (who would probably otherwise never have played international football for England, from where they all hail) by choosing Ireland he turned his back on a definite career with Scotland. McGeady had always expressed a wish to play for Ireland and spent plenty of time in the Republic during his formative years. After making his decision official at the age of 18 and winning his first cap, McGeady suffered a ton of predictably vitriolic abuse from Scottish fans.
McGeady provides a rare example of a foreign-born player of "mixed" parentage who feels such a sense of patriotism for a nation that he unambiguously declares his allegiance as a teenager and gives up an international future with his country of birth regardless of all the immense problems such a decision yields.
Mind You, I'm not saying that I
agree with McGeady's choice. I am just observing that his commitment to Ireland is
genuine - unlike the ersatz "patriotism" of Perquis, Obraniak, Polanski, and Boenisch.
Matra2 said:
As an aside when I was in
Poland earlier this year I watched a Polish league match on TV at a local pub. I was astonished by the poor condition of the pitch. It was waterlogged with sections of total mud. Almost every time the ball landed it would stop on the spot. I'd never seen a football match - even in an amateur league - played in such conditions. This being a televised match in a big stadium - not amateur lower division stuff - it gave me a bad impression of the local league.
BTW I never saw the Harnas beer that is on your avatar. It was all Tyskie and Zywiec.
Matra2 -
Yes, the so-called "Ekstraklasa" is a bit of a sick joke. I'll leave it at that... :censored:
Tyskie and Zywiec are the most widely available beers in Poland, and You'll find them at all of the tourist spots. Thankfully, I can even buy Zywiec from the Dan Murphy's bottle shop chain here in Australia. When I was back in England last year, i stuck my nose into a Polish shop in Ely and their shelves and fridges were literally loaded to bursting point with Harnas, so the "local" Poles must be swilling the stuff by the bathtub-full...