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Andrew's Blog
Sunday, September 2nd , 2:30pm.
Poland Stage = Sept 2007
Poland Article # 1 -
Andrew Ziemer -
11:00 pm German Time
In the middle of the Sonoma County Alliance tournament game SCA -
Atletico Santa Rosa U11 Boys, my mother gave me a ride to the Sonoma
County Airporter bus.
As I boarded the bus it hit me that a new "Football Adventure" was
about to begin.
Being an avid reader (mostly about Soccer), I packed several books
that I have not quite had the time to read.
The book I dove into on the bus and plane is Behind the Curtain :
Travels in Eastern European Football by, Jonathan Wilson. It is a
story of how eastern Europe has changed since the Berlin Wall came
down -
told through football.
Vestiges of the old system coexist uneasily with the new, and the
result isn't working: whatever else has changed for the better, the
football -
with the possible exception of the game in Russia -
has
grown immeasurably worse. So in an indirect way, it is a story of
capitalism, and its effect on the socialist economies of the east,
the story of how football has dealt with the new ideology and its
new set of masters.
Searching for more information on Polish Football, I quickly read
the Prologue and Chaper 1 - Ukraine : Playing the System.
Chapter 2 is named Poland: The Ugly Daughter and this is what I
found out.
In 2000, Jerzy Engel, coach of the World Cup Team, read about a
National Survey on the state of the nation. Asked what the worst
thing about Poland was, # 1 was the roads and #2 was the National
Football Team.
From 1986 -
2002 Poland had been to no major tournaments and the
objection of the National Team had become a joke rooted in the
Polish landscape.
In the early 1970's a coach named Kazimerez Gorksi prepared the
Polish Team. Before Gorski, there was a socialist thing " coach was
equal to a commanding officer like in the military". Gorki created a
community and treated players like younger friends. He had an
assistant, his right hand man Jacek Knoch a tactican who was an
expert in scouting the opponents.
Gorski was very calm and famous for catchphrases and a gifted
motivator, organizer and delegator with great humor. Most important,
he instituted a professional mentality two decades before
professionalism was legal.
In 1972, Poland won the Olympic Gold Medal in Munich and in May of
1973 against England @ Wembley in front of 100,000 drew 1-1 and
qualified for the World Cup in Germany in 1974. So happy was the
Vice President of the Polish Football Federation (PZPN) that he
jumped into the shower with the players with his suit on.
In 1974, Poland finished 3rd which gave them belief and had two more
credible World Cup's in 1978 in Argentina and 1982 in Spain. In 1986
there were again horrible and then most recently exited in the first
round in both 2002 and 2006.
Today, Poland continues to produce top talented players, but do not
translate it into competitive success. This is the result of
mismanagement at all levels from the government downwards, and
especially with the PZPN.
Many claim there is an old style , old fashioned thinking. The
PZPN's director states " The old guard has dominated too long:
Communism died in Poland in 1989, but only died in the PZPN ten
years later".
Stadiums and fields are run down, owners are corrupt, and clubs are
not organized with TV and image rights. Although several clubs have
a rich tradition such as Polonia Warsaw, Legia Warsaw and Wisla
Krakow, most are struggling on all aspects.
Currently, Poland has the so called G4 (the 4 leading clubs) : Legia
Warsaw, Wislaw Krakow, Amica and Groclin, with strong investment and
some success in European Football.
In 2005, the top clubs disestablished themselves from the PZPN and
founded a separate and self governing company. Polish Soccer expert,
Stefaniski quotes " This could be a landmark for Polish Football and
a start of a New Age. Defeatism is a common trait in Poland. The
Poles are against almost everything and have been fighting the
Russians, the Germans and also each other. That is why we do not
create anymore. It is a problem beyond sport. We are all children of
the Communist regime, even if we were against it or born after the
collapse of the system, it is still very , very much inside of us.
It's in the mentality : the long tradition of fighting against
occupation, and fighting against Communism."
"Hopefully this new structure will help us compete more equally with
top European Clubs."
After arriving in Germany on Monday, Sept 3rd at 3:00pm German time
, I took a taxi to the Hotel on the outskirts of Frankfurt in a
small village Mulhieim / Landerspiel (4,500 residents). I walked in
met Frans Hoek , Leo Beenhakker and the staff and within thirty
minutes had checked into my room as was walking with the team to
nearby club TSV Landerspiel for the first training session.
Training was from 5:00pm -
6:30pm followed by a meal and short
meeting at 7:30pm. Everyone was then off to bed, because most had
played European Club (UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup) in the
middle of last week followed by league fixtures on Saturday and
Sunday.
Including myself and the 25 players and 11 coaches and staff, people
flew in from 15 different countries this morning including: USA,
Portugal, Spain, Greece, Holland, Russia, Poland, England, Scotland,
Belgium, Austria, Serbia, Romania and Ukraine.
Training Session # 1 -
Monday , 5:00 pm, Germany
For all the soccer coaches, a brief synopsis of the training (full
report with exercises to come).
Objective / Aim : To get the flight out of the players body and to
get the last weeks games out of their mind. To come together as a
team.
25 players -
2 were at the Doctor (Radoslaw Matusiak of SC
Heerenveen and Jacek Bak of Austria Wien). There could be a problem
with Jacek Bak (captain and most capped player) and he may be out
for up to 6 weeks with a back/disc problem. The staff had a big
discussion after training about who to call in based on
availability, needs of the team , level of experience etc.
A - Warm-up -
Rondo -
2 grids of 6V2, 1 of 5V2
B - Short talk with Leo Beenhakker and then a 15 minute slow jog
with the coordination coach, followed by coordination and dynamic
stretching.
C -
Artur Boruc and Maciej Zurawski of Celtic FC, Marcin Wasilewski
of RSC Anderlecht, Mical Zewlakow of Olympiacos CFP and Lukasz
Garula of GKS Belchatow who all played 90 minutes on Sunday,
finished with a 8 minute run (cooling down) and walked back to the
hotel.
Frans Hoek and Polish Gker Coach took keepers Tomasz Kuszczak and
Lukasz Fabianski and worked apart from the team for the rest of the
session.
Leo and the Polish Assistant did a passing exercise (with
combinations) with the 15 remaining players. Exercise and coaching
points to follow.
D -
The 15 players than did 4 progressive sprints at 80% with change
of direction and then 5 shorter sprints with turning and exploding
at 90%.
E -
Possession 6V6 plus 3. 5 sets times 3 minutes with coaching and
rest in between.
F -
Longer sprints at 85% staying at one speed the whole time.
Distance between 50 and 140 meters.
G -
Cooling down and stretching
Poland squad- Portugal and Finland UEFA 2008 Qualifying -
September
2007
Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic FC), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester
United FC), Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal FC).
Defenders: Marcin Wasilewski (RSC Anderlecht), Pawel Golanski (FC
Steaua Bucuresti), Arkadiusz Glowacki (Wisla Kraków), Mariusz Jop
(FK Moskva), Jacek Bak (FK Austria Wien), Michal Zewlakow (Olympiacos
CFP), Grzegorz Bronowicki (FK Crvena Zvezda), Dariusz Dudka (Wisla
Kraków).
Midfielders: Przemyslaw Kazmierczak (FC Porto), Radoslaw Sobolewski
(Wisla Kraków), Mariusz Lewandowski (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Jakub
Blaszczykowski (BV Borussia Dortmund), Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatów),
Jacek Krzynówek (VFL Wolfsburg), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Real Racing
Club Santander), Wojciech Lobodzinski (Zaglebie Lubin), Michal
Golinski (Zaglebie Lubin).
Forwards: Maciej Zurawski (Celtic FC), Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha BSC
Berlin), Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton FC), Marek Saganowski
(Southampton FC), Radoslaw Matusiak (SC Heerenveen).
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