POLAND STUNNED WORLD CHAMPIONS GERMANY WITH A 2:0 VICTORY

National team of Poland finally managed to beat Germany on a football pitch. Saturday's 2:0 win at the beautiful National Stadium in Warsaw, in the qualifications to EURO 2016, was long overdue. Poland played Germany 18 times before, and never was able to record a win, even though all the football matches played between these two nations, except for one or two, were always evenly fought ferocious battles. Because of the history of German invasions of Poland and infliction of death and destructions of Polish cities and towns throughout the centuries, any encounter between the national teams from these nations always brings Poland to a stop during the game (same story as with respect to matches against Russia, another of our invading tormentors).
The most famous match between Germany (then West Germany) and Poland was played in Stuttgart, during the 1974 World Cup. Poland was the sensation of the tournament, to which they qualified by beating England 2:0 and then drawing at Wembley 1:1. During the World Cup itself, Poland was unstoppable by beating Argentina, Haiti, Italy, Sweden and Yugoslavia. The match in Stuttgart was to decide who would meet Holland in the big final in Munich. The Poles were the highest scoring team of the tournament, with Grzegorz Lato (7) and Andrzej Szarmach (5) being two leading scorers in the World Cup 1974. The unstoppable in his dribblings winger Robert Gadocha created 9 goals himself, whereas legendary playmaker Kazimierz Deyna, was voted one of the top 3 players of that world cup, together with such greats of the game as Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer. Germans, on the other hand, boasted - besides Beckenbauer - such stars as Meier, Breitner, Overath, Netzer and Gerd Muller. Had the match been played on a normal pitch, Poland would have likely won with their brand of quick-lightning football, and deadly forwards. Unfortunately, an hour before the match the pitch was flooded by heavy rains, and in current football the match would have to be postponed. However, the Germans pressed the officials to play the game as they realized that speed of Polish players would be neutralized by the puddles of water on the pitch. Since Poland then was subjugated by the Soviets and had no clout whatsoever with FIFA, the officials sided with West Germany, and the game was allowed to proceed. Notwithstanding the conditions, the match was dominated by Poland who created multitude of scoring opportunities, yet the ball would not cross the line, either because it would stop in the puddles of water, or in the arms of Sepp Meier, German goalkeeper playing the match of his life. On the other end, Jan Tomaszewski palmed away Uli Hoeness's penalty shot, but he was unable to stop a low shot by Gerd Muller. In the next match, the final against Holland, Germany beat the latter 2:1 and bagged their second world championship, whereas Poland went on to beat Brazil for the 3rd place in the world.
The German approach to the matches against Poland was summarized by coach Jurgen Klinsmann who in 2006 World Cup famously motivated the German national team ahead of the match against Poland, by saying something to the effect: "We can lose against anybody, but never can we allow to be beaten by Poland, never...". That game was also ferociously fought and the score stood at 0:0 until the last minute, when Oliver Neuville managed to somehow beat Artur Boruc, by sliding his body to push the ball through the goal line.
In 2011, in a friendly preparation game to Euro 2012, Poland was leading 2:1 in the last minute, yet the Germans equalized in the last gasp of the match through naturalized Brazilian, Cacau, and denied the Poles the elusive victory. Before Saturday's match, theses teams met the last time in May, 2014 in Hamburg, both in depleted squads, and the game ended again in a 0:0 draw, exactly as in 1971 in the same Hamburg stadium, during qualifications to EURO 1972, incidentally won by West Germany.
Last Saturday, the conditions were favorable to Poland, as Germany is currently in transition, after retirement of Lahm, Klose and Mertesaker, and injuries of Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Ozil and Reuss
had an impact on the Germans. Poland was also missing its best technical and creative player, Jakub Blaszczykowski, known by fans all over the world as Kuba. Yet Adam Nawalka, one of the young stars of 1978 World Cup, whose career was quickly finished by injuries, is rather a smart coach, and he knows Germany as he played against them himself. He improved dramatically Polish defense, and decided to surrender the midfield whereas he concentrated on quick transition from defense to attack. Poland did not have many breaks, perhaps 5 or 6, and ended up with 3 shots on target, yet 2 of them reached home. Clinical! Our best centre-half, Kamil Glik, finally showed why in Serie A he is known as the Wall, and whatever he could not stop, was stopped but our young goalkeeper Wojtek Szczesny (he earns his living at Arsenal London)  who smartly positioned himself on all German scoring opportunities, and probably had a better game than Jan Tomaszewski had at Wembley in 1973. The most decisive was though the role of Robert Lewandowski, who played huge role in diverting the attention of German defenders from Arkadiusz Milik and, after his substitution, from Sebastian Mila. On the first goal, Piszczek crossed toward Lewandowski and Milik, however, German defenders paid attention only to deeper placed Lewandowski, what allowed Milik to attack the ball freely, ahead of Neuer, the German goalkeeper, who attempted to correct his defenders' mistake, and Milik's glancing header ended up in the German's net. On the second goal, the ball was thrown to Lewandowski, who controlled it in the right corner of German penalty area, and cleverly shook off Durm, then seeing the other German defenders converging on him, Lewandowski passed the ball calmly to arriving in Sebastian Mila, who struck it immediately home with his left foot. Apparently, Neuer did not know that Mila is a left-footed player, for he expected Mila to control the ball with left foot and to strike it with his right foot.  Immediately, the National Stadium went in delirium for it became apparent that the first victory over Germany in football was in the bag. The vodka must have been streaming in Poland all night, as online readers of Guardian commented on. So, finally we took that monkey of our back, and future matches against the Germans would be from now on a less tense affair for the Poles.
The Warsaw victory is one of the string of recent successes by Polish sport, which is somehow catching up with Poland's economic success and is the next sign of normalcy of life in Poland. Three weeks ago, Poland's volleyball team won the men world championships and two weeks ago young Michal Kwiatkowski won the world championship in road cycling, whereas another young cyclist, Rafal Majka was the revelation in Tour de France, where he won the best climber jersey. Poland was recently also successful in track and field, speedway, team handball and tennis, and improved considerably in basketball, in addition to recording best ever medal catch in the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
Tomorrow comes match against Scotland, even more difficult than the one against Germany, as Scotland will likely "park the bus", leaving the attacking to Poland, who is not used to positional football, particularly without injured Kuba Blaszczykowski, the most creative Polish midfielder. As I am certain that counterattacking Polish team will handily beat Scotland in Glasgow, I am not so sure about the game played in Warsaw, notwithstanding the higher technical level of Polish team. The Scots are technically limited and although they can play quick physical football, they are predictable in their usual automatic schemes of play. I believe, though, thanks to the huge motivational kick in the form of victory over Germany, that we will prevail over Scotland, after all.  Godspeed, Poland! Naprzod, Polska!

Janusz Andrzejewski, a New York City based attorney, writes on legal and other important community topics. You can reach him by telephone (212-634-4250), 

 or, through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

CELTIC GLASGOW HIDING BEHIND UEFA'S SHOCKING DISREGARD OF THE SPIRIT OF FAIR PLAY

Poland's football (or soccer, if you prefer) seems to be on the rise. Except for one or two clubs of 16- teams Polish Ekstraklasa, all the clubs play nowadays in either new or renovated stadiums, the money supply is slowly rising, and the Polish footballers are regaining the spotlight they used to enjoy in 1970-s and 1980-s, when Poland's national team twice came 3rd in World Cups (1974 and 1982) and players like Lato, Deyna, Lubanski, Gadocha, Tomaszewski or Zibi Boniek were world-wide renowned stars. The new generation is graced by Robert Lewandowski, Jakub "Kuba" Blaszczykowski, Lukasz Piszczek, Wojciech Szczesny or Artur Boruc. This year Legia Warsaw, the former club of Kazimierz Deyna, the playmaker of 1974 national team of Poland, who was selected as no 3 player of 1974 World Cup (just behind Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer) confirmed the improvement of Polish soccer by destroying Celtic Glasgow in 3rd qualifying round of Champions League by aggregate score of 6:1 (4:1 in Poland, and 2:0 in Scotland), despite wasting two penalty shots and many more occasions. But soon it turned out that not everything is so rosy in the real world and that sun shines at different angles for rich men, and poor men. Before Legia Warsaw players stopped celebrating the fully deserved double victory and qualification to the Champions League playoffs - the final round of qualifications to lucrative group stage of UEFA Champions League - there came a news that Legia might have fielded for the last four minutes of the away game in Scotland, when their win and qualification were already assured, a player who might have been ineligible to play due to earlier suspension. However, Legia Warsaw released in Poland a statement that there should not be a problem of ineligibility of the player, Bartosz Bereszynski, who was suspended for three matches because of a red card from previous season. They were under impression that the player served the suspension fully by abstaining from three matches of Champions League in this very campaign (two matches against St. Patrick of Ireland, in 2nd qualifying round of Champions League, and first match against Celtic in Warsaw, Poland). However, Legia Warsaw forgot about an old and obscure rule requiring that the name of the player serving suspension be placed on match statements, filed with UEFA after each game. The chairman of Legia Warsaw, with all necessary documentation flew on Thursday to Nyon, Switzerland, to the headquarters of UEFA disciplinary body, to prove that Bartosz Bereszynski was Legia Warsaw player throughout those three qualifying games in which he did not play, as he was serving the 3-match suspension, and to prove that the omission of his name on the match statements was just a clerical error. However, Mr. Mioduski wasn't allowed to see the UEFA's disciplinary body whereas Celtic Glasgow was pressing quietly through their allies behind the closed door for walkover decision in the match played in Scotland. When Mr. Mioduski finally saw the UEFA people, the decision of a 3:0 walkover in the match played in Scotland was already made. It is interesting to note that the rate of payments for tv transmission of Celtic Glasgow matches are much higher than for those paid for Legia Warsaw matches, and that UEFA stands to make much more money from the Celtic matches in Champions League group stage than from those of Legia. What is also interesting is that UEFA public announcement did not even mention the fact that Bartosz Bereszynski in fact served the suspension (except for reporting irregularity on the match statements sent to UEFA), instead UEFA just reported to the public that Legia Warsaw fielded ineligible player in the match played in Scotland (Celtic Glasgow v. Legia Warsaw 0:2) and because of that the result was nullified and Celtic was awarded a 3:0 result by walkover. So, not only Legia wasn't allowed to explain anything before the decision was reached,  but also the UEFA statement implies to ignorant readers that Legia Warsaw cheated by fielding ineligible player which is far from the truth. The UEFA announcement does not only fail to mention that player de facto served his full suspension, except for match statements irregularity, it also does not mention that he was fielded for inconsequential 4 minutes, when the result and Legia's qualification was already assured on the pitch. I understand that if one sticks to the letter of the law, UEFA might be right. However, since the offence was unintentional, miniscule and had no bearing on the result on the pitch, the strict adherence to the letter of the law by UEFA was a highway robbery perpetrated on Legia club and players. Also, the same UEFA in 2011, in similar situation, when Debrecen of Hungary fielded for 4 minutes not registered player in match against champion of Bulgaria, UEFA did not disqualify Debrecen - stating that the offence was inconsequential - for obvious reason: Debrecen opponent was from lowly Bulgaria, enjoying almost the same lowly status as the Hungarians. To Legia Warsaw UEFA could not apply the spirit of the law as it did toward Debrecen, as Legia's opponent was the famous Celtic Glasgow, from rich U.K., with people from U.K. sitting on various UEFA committees, and with bigger television rights piece of pie from the lucrative U.K. market. So, the reason for double standard is quite clear. Legia Warsaw will of course appeal as soon as UEFA issues its facts and findings in support of the decision, however, the participation of Celtic in the final qualification round to Champions League will go on, and it will jeopardize Legia's chances on appeal. Therefore, chairman of Legia, Mr. Mioduski, attempted to contact Celtic people by telephone to discuss the Celtic's position, but Celtic didn't answer any communication from Legia. Mr. Mioduski decided then to publish an open letter to Celtic, reminding them the fair play traditions of famous Celtic Glasgow, and asking for a meeting to work out a joint statement to UEFA. Predictably, Celtic people refused any meeting and hide themselves behind the UEFA decision. What's more, they have audacity to claim that they are furious at Legia and otherwise disappointed! It appears that official UEFA delegate for the match in Scotland saw Bereszynski's name on the match statement prior to the match, and did not voice his objections until the match was over. I reckon he must have winked to Celtic officials to assure them that everything will end up well for the Bhoys, notwithstanding the result on the pitch. From the little irregularity on the paper, notwithstanding the resounding success of Legia on the pitch (without using the questionably ineligible player), the latter, although growing and with modern new stadium, is still a poor club comparing to the famous Celtic. The more acute will be their loss of approximately $30,000,000.00 should they have qualified to the group stage, whereas Celtic might undeservedly reap the same $30,000,000 amount thanks to shady dealings by UEFA and people supporting Celtic in UEFA committees. The decision by UEFA is so shocking, that even the New York Times jumped on Legia Warsaw wagon, expressing the outrage the decision caused all over Europe, and even across the big pond, in the United States. So much for transparency and fair play concepts, so vociferously espoused by British media when it suits their purposes and interests. I wonder why those U.K. defenders of those high concepts are not crying foul now? They were much louder when they screamed: do not go to Euro 2012 if you do not want to come back in a coffin! So much for equality. After all, double standards do not disappear from this world. Its the eternal rich men, poor men!  

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal and other community important subjects. You can contact him by telephone (212-634-4250),  or, by e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com