Unyielding Smuda silences Poland doubters
Reuters - Wednesday 13 June 2012, 11:17
It was only a 1-1 draw in their
second Euro 2012 Group A match against Russia, but in one fell
swoop Polish coach Franciszek Smuda silenced his critics.
The solid defence and counter-attacking approach with which
the hosts came back in the second half of Tuesday's
politically-charged clash was straight out of the textbook from
Poland's golden years in the 1970s and 80s.
But it owed everything to the coach's decision to sacrifice
winger Maciej Rybus in favour of playing former centre-back
Dariusz Dudka in a midfield that broke up Russian attacks time
and again.
The result was a shot count for the Poles that was almost
double that of one of the tournament favourites and it left most
of a notoriously critical Polish press core walking on air.
For the first time since 1986, most were quick to say,
Poland still have a chance of advancing to the next stage at a
finals going into the third group game.
"Very clearly the best match so far under Smuda, maybe the
best match by the Polish national team in years," leading
football columnist Robert Blonski said.
"At last we get a third game that means something."
It was all a sharp contrast to the reaction to the opening
1-1 draw with Greece which left most Polish commentators laying
into Smuda for not making more changes as his side flagged in
the second half.
Smuda's reaction, as so often with a coach who prides
himself on sticking to what he believes, was unyielding.
"I have my principles, they always turn out to be the right
ones and I always come out smelling of roses," he told reporters
on Saturday. "Why should I do what someone else suggests. I have
to do what I want to do."
As interesting, though, was Smuda's refusal to sign up to
the press optimism on Tuesday.
"We have played a lot of good games. Someone said to me that
the best was [a 2-2 draw last year] against the Germans. I don't
know about that. When you are building a team, not all of the
performances in friendlies are the best.
"What I can say is that this team is playing better and
better."
ECCENTRI DISCIPLINARIAN
Often an eccentric disciplinarian, Smuda has always divided
opinion in Poland. But on a number of counts he is the country's
most successful coach in international competition since a
national team led by Zbigniew Boniek came third in the 1982
World Cup.
His 1997 Widzew Lodz side are the last Polish team to play
in the Champions League group stages and a Lech Poznan team that
included a handful of the current national squad were the first
to make the Europa League knockout stages.
In many ways, the Poles now look similar to Smuda's
multi-national Lech side. The coach, who spent his early years
as a coach in the German lower leagues, began his reign two
years ago by scouring the Bundesliga and other European leagues
for players with Polish heritage.
The result is another multi-national ensemble, half of whom
could just as well be playing for France and Germany.
All that, along with many Poles' grumbles that Smuda seems
to speak German as well as he does Polish, has gone by the
wayside for a nation that expects victory over the Czechs on
Saturday.
"The pressure is always on us," Smuda said on Tuesday. "The
worst of it was before the first game. Now some of it has eased.
"The game with Russia confirmed that we can beat the Czechs.
We see our chance to advance to the quarters and this team will
try and take that chance."