From Brendan
Hi Myles,
Fascinating stuff about Deyna.
When I lived in Warsaw, all my Polish friends were fans of Legia Warszawa, and the older ones who had seen him play said he was the greatest player Poland produced. They spoke of him with an uncanny reverence.
I watched Poland-Ireland at the Polish club down the road.
The place was amazingly quiet, concentrated and nervous, and the only sounds came when a goal went in, and of course at the end, when it all poured out. I watched it with a friend with an Irish mum. There were guys in their Ireland tops down there too, very convivial atmosphere.
For me, it was a tight match in which Poland had the technical edge and in the end just about matched Ireland’s desire and will. I thought that Poland might wilt towards the end – they’ve had a tendency to do this in the past – but there’s something different about Nawalka and Lewandowski’s Poland. More grit, more determination, less dawdling. They couldn’t do it against Scotland, but when the time came, they did enough to get over the line.
I think Krychowiak had a fine game. Granted, he walked the line, but that’s what he’s paid to do. It was a game of committed and tough challenges on both sides, for obvious reasons.
My mate Dan was very disappointed with Ireland’s defence and goalkeeper; maybe he’s right that they might have had a better chance with Given. But I don’t think anyone was stopping Lewy’s header. I still can’t understand how he put so much power into that, over such a long distance.
Good luck to the Irish in the playoffs – if they don’t get through, it will be a major loss to the tournament – not having their fans there, anyway.
Cheers!
Myles says:
That unreal header by Lewandowski was like several by Andy Gray.
What a gladiator! I remember raving here when Lewa scored three razor-sharp goals for Dortmund against Real Madrid.
Deyna was pure class, played with authority, opened up games with elegant moves. He made improbable things look natural and easy, as Pele did.
In 1974, Johan Cruyff was the European Footballer of the Year, Beckenbauer was second in the vote, Deyna third.
West Germany ’74 was a very good tournament in which the hosts bounced back following a shocker in their first game, a 1-0 defeat by…. East Germany
My gut feeling is that Euro 2016 will be a memorable tournament with lots of great matches.
I don’t know why I say that. I rarely look that far ahead, normally just focus on today’s match & tomorrow’s match, never looking further down the road.
Just feel that, after the winter, the Spring and Summer will bring the quality of football we all want to see.