Piotr Wołosik: As after every major tournament with the participation of our football team, a septic tank in Qatar also broke after that. However, the “ticket scandal” after Euro 2012, the outrage over low pressure used by Adam Nowachka’s team in the 2018 World Cup farewell match, or the chef’s sending to a press conference during the 2006 World Cup turned out to be innocent. Jokes compared to Monday’s bug eruption. I mean the revelations in the media of the promise of a reward of PLN 30 million To the players and staff of the national team to qualify for the 1/8 World Cup. This money, though virtual, became a bone of contention between the players and coach Czeslaw Michniewicz. It was about the proportions, and the dissatisfied players were led by the captain – Robert Lewandowski.
Radosław Kałużny (ex-midfielder of the Polish national football team, commentator for Przegląd Sportowy Onet): Watching the commotion, I got carried away, although I had been trying to approach the ball without emotions for a long time. Robert Lewandowski’s behavior attracted me. You know, he’s a brilliant footballer and all that, but his behavior off the field was just embarrassing. First, he formulates something about the lack of joy from the game, shooting Czeslaw Micniewicz from behind the corner, and then it turns out that instead of focusing on football and the World Cup, he is arguing with the coach about money.
But you, too, before the 2002 World Cup, were behind your ears. You’ve been haggling money with PZPN, and you’ve also come up with the idea that the editors should pay you for the interviews.
Of course it was, but note that we were fighting before the World Cup, not during it. We traveled to Korea knowing where we stand in terms of rewards and advertising dollars. Only the ball and the court matter, not the bag. I won’t mention that I entered…well, you know who, but that was only after the tournament.
Robert after Qatar should do an examination of conscience. It’s a guess, but using a penalty against Mexico would ensure we didn’t face the French when we were knocked out of the group. And in the match against the French, Robert was not there, and he was not. Bartosz Berezinsky, Matei Cash, Pyotr Zelensky and Wojciech Szczycinny. They drove us. Unfortunately, Robert did not participate in it, nor did he provide support. You could see from him that he was completely nervous, lost, scared, and after the first penalty was taken. Some uncontrolled jumps, a miserable shot, saved anyway. I repeat – he is an excellent player, not a digger, as I was, but to be honest, my drunk Kony would have hit the penalty better. He has outgrown Robert’s World Cup.
Back to Lewy – once, he also performed an informational “execution” on Francesc Smuda. And also after the Euro 2012 tournament.
He does everything cool and calculates it after the fact. He will be a Cossack if during the tournament he declares that the coach does not control the team, cannot create it, use its potential. After all, everyone is smart. I noticed a certain regularity – if the national team won, then Robert and the rest, if they lost, then only the coach lost, and Robert was not around.
He insisted that Michniewicz stay put, because after all, his team had left the group. Although I know that the climate for making such a decision is not very special.
Yes, it must stay! We’ve been wanting shit for years when we finally got an upgrade. And when we finally got the promotion – Michniewicz should be punished. Nonsense. As for money, with our players’ salaries today, this bonus wouldn’t change anything in their lives. And quarrels during the tournament are unforgivable. You have a match against the world champions, the party of a lifetime, and before all that, you wonder if Kamil Grosicki owes $1,200 or less. By the way – he gave Grosek a big change and in those few minutes he did more than Robert Lewandowski in the whole meeting.
In 2002, Zbigniew Boniek put you to the test in an argument over money?
After 16 years without making it to a major championship, we had absolutely no idea how to capitalize on that success. I think it was because we didn’t really believe in regular participation in big football events, so we planned to make money (laughs).
“16 years of prolonged absence from a major tournament means that some players and PZPN activists, perhaps out of joy, have lost touch with reality. First, the players turned to the heads of the activists in the division of the spoils, among others, to lend the image on the devices for the national team. It was about mugs and glasses with pictures of players on them. The conflict was suppressed by the vice-president of PZPN Zbigniew Boniek, who told the players: sign the contract on our terms, and if someone doesn’t like it, then … quit! Since the players failed to jump on the cash, they decided to look for an extra penny in the pockets of… journalists, specifically their publishers. They come up with the idea that they will have to pay for interviews, and they will most likely sign a contract with one publishing house for the sake of exclusivity, depriving the rest of the connection, even though they are not champions. This is part of my script from years ago.
I’ll repeat it ad nauseam – there is a time and a place for this sort of thing, but it’s certainly not heroic. The assurances of Czeslaw Micniewicz and many journalists that he is still fine with Robert Lewandowski sound as reliable as the statement that Jaroslav Kaczynski and Donald Tusk are best friends. It seems to me that the selector does not want to add “to the burner”.
And, in my opinion, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is to blame for this pâté. There will be no promise of a huge reward, no subject. It is known that it is all because of journalists and cyclists, but … I am convinced that if it were not for the media, a huge undeserved reward would have been paid. Burn hell in any proportions. Fortunately, the media caught up and probably saved PLN 30 million from the budget. They can be spent on a more meaningful purpose, and not on pampering the team that has crawled out of the group. In general, such a donation for anything smells like a banana republic, not a country from Central Europe. It seems to me that if the bounty was conscious, let’s say 1 million euros to be divided, then there would be no discussion and no fuss about the division of money. But the prime minister decided to go crazy. Some people go crazy on the field, and we, unfortunately, traditionally off the field. There was also a message that the players didn’t want this bonus at all. Moreover, they were disgusted that the Prime Minister was wasting money in such difficult times.
surely. And I’m a model. As far as I know the players, the locker room and… me, two players would probably resign themselves to accepting this mountain of money. As long as one is blind and the other deaf. The time and place of the controversy Our representatives chose the worst possible. I will repeat this over and over again.
I enjoyed commenting under this embarrassing piece of news. “So nobody wants that money. Neither Michniewicz, nor PZPN, nor footballers. It will soon be seen that the Prime Minister, like a Nigerian prince, was looking for someone who could give him 30 bubbles.”
I have heard many times that you should not mix politics, but it is clear that in our country it should be opposite. It was always mixed. With every success, politicians wanted to warm themselves up, earn some points, and after the tournament they pretended not to know us (laughs).
I remember an anecdote from years ago. The Poles, including you, returned from Korea with their butts covered. Football players notice several hundred fans at the airport. Thomas Hajto seems to be saying to his colleagues: Well, gentlemen, I think it will be a wpie… Suddenly the crowd starts shouting: “Nothing happened! Poles, nothing happened!”. Apparently, it wasn’t entirely spontaneous for the fans to come to Okęcie. Among the audience was the head of the national team at that time, who organized the arrival of a number of coaches. Two buses brought the principal’s family near and far from Lomza.
That’s right, you don’t make it up!
The return from Qatar was on the ancient text. The staff landed and, under cover of night, the company slowly dispersed.
We just got back from Korea. Burning with shame. Apparently, this is our fatal imitation.
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