It’s do or die time for Leo and Poland

Northern Ireland and Poland are meeting in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Saturday with first place on the line. And, more importantly, the loser will probably see it’s 2010 World Cup hopes go down the drain. But, that’s not the only thing on the line in Belfast, Leo Beenhakker’s future as manager of the national team is also up in the air.

Reymonta – no longer a fortress?

Kuba - early days at Wisla Krakow

My, my… I remember times of Henryk Kasperczak, when Wisla Krakow was a heavyweight champion of Polish Ekstraklasa. The teams feared to compete on their ground, as it was a stronghold nearly impossible to capture. Teams that achieved draw were celebrating a success. Only Legia, if I rack my memory well enough, was able to compete at champion’s territory. Even though, a draw was all they could achieve most of the time.

Wisla Krakow are still Champions of Poland, but I feel that times when the Reymonta Stadium was a symbol of glory are now gone. Some of you might remember a sensational 2-4 loss against GKS Belchatow in season 06/07. It was spoken of by the media for a long time as a moment, when spell of Reymonta was broken. And it seems they were right. Since then, I believe, the fear of playing away at Wisla’s turf is gone.

Jelen remains on fire

Ireneusz Jelen remained in great form for AJ Auxerre in the French Ligue1 on Saturday with a beautiful goal against Toulouse FC in a 1-1 draw. This was Jelen’s 6th goal of the season in just 15 games. He leads all Auxerre scorers and is tied for 17th in the French league. Jelen was subbed off in the 79th minute by Daniel George Niculae, to a standing ovation by his home fans. Polish international Dariusz Dudka played the full 90 for Auxerre in the tie.

Enough with Wichniarek. Enough with the past. Enough with Leo!

Earlier this week, Poland’s head coach Leo Beenhakker said he is still considering striker Artur Wichniarek for  National team callup. Yes, the “big mouth” of Polish football is still on Leo’s radar. Remember, Wichniarek called Leo an “idiot” in a interview with Sport Bild after he was omitted from the Euro Cup squad. He was upset because despite scoring at least 10 goals two seasons in a row he was not considered useful by the coaching staff. Yet, this is the same King Arthur who criticized Jerzy Engel in 2002 after he was not call-up for the games in Japan and South Korea.

Poor, poor Zoowafski

He never was much of a leader, more of a joker on and off the pitch. Now after his poor performance (If you can call it that) at EURO 2008 and with World Cup qualifications just starting, Maciej Zurawski has been quietly booted from the NT. Why? When? Where? You may ask. Well frankly, he himself doesn’t even know the answer to those questions. Now some people may call him a pussy, or dick after the EURO, but a bad player he is not.

Media crack Leo, Boruc come home?

So here we have it, after much abuse from the media, the old Dutchman finally cracked. A recent article tells us about a comment by a Polish reporter about Leo that he didn’t approve of very well; so its time to sue! I don’t blame him, I myself find it crazy how the Polish media has been recklessly attacking Beenhakker like mad ever since EURO 2008. It’s like they have nothing else to do or think about, just what new bashing should they come up about him, because the NT has been playing so awfully. Hey, here is a thought…