Right, I'm back. Now, where were we? Ah, yes, "favouritism"...
In yet another display of blatant favouritism, Smuda stuck with an abjectly ineffective Rafal Murawski - who he had managed at Lech Poznan - in midfield. Murawski, of course, was the bloke who gave the ball away to the Czechs in a schoolboy mistake which was the first step of the sequence which ultimately led to their goal... :censored:
The first match against Greece was going well (apart from ominously squandering all of those early potential scoring chances) - until the Greeks had a player undeservedly sent off. I instantly felt my guts churn because I knew exactly what would transpire. The pressure of being a goal up and playing in front of their home crowd in the opening match of the European Championship was suddenly increased a hundredfold by being a man up, with a convincing victory now being 100% expected. This proved too much and everything fell apart almost instantly.
If Przemyslaw Tyton hadn't saved that penalty in his first action after coming on for the red-carded Wojciech Szczesny, the match would have been lost (
z kretesem, as one would add in Polish...). Notwithstanding the tactical anarchy on the field, Smuda changed absolutely nothing and failed to make any substitutions, instead gnawing his filthy nails and praying that the Greeks wouldn't score again. There's nothing like top-draw tactical "nous"...
Now on to the Russia match, which the media naturally wound up to a matter of life or death (this, of course, was true from both a football and "historical" perspective...:icon_wink
. Too bad that Smuda was more interested in avoiding defeat than winning in front of our own fans on the world stage, for he put out the same side which failed miserably against Greece, with the enforced change of Tyton for Szczesny in addition to replacing Maciej Rybus with the ultra defensive midfielder / defender Dariusz Dudka.
Once the scores were level the Russians looked tired and were pretty much there for the taking, but the nutless Smuda opted for a "low risk" approach to hold on to the draw rather than try to go for a win. He sent on that worthless prick Brozek
in the final minute - and that was just to run down the clock. Based on the ****ing national jubilation which followed this poxy
draw, one could have been mistaken in thinking Poland had actually
won the tournament...for the second time running...
The final game provided the proverbial "must win" scenario. As an added bonus, the Czechs were weakened by the absence of the injured Tomas Rosicky so Poland's task was made a bit easier. So, the scene was set, eh?
This was without doubt Poland's biggest game since the 1982 World Cup semifinal: hosting the European Championship and needing to win in front of a huge home crowd to progress to the quarterfinals. Now, how does that soft **** Smuda approach this "win at all costs" match? Why, how else than by starting exactly the same ****ing defensive team and exactly the same defensive formation as he employed in the match against Russia! Thank God that I didn't bother to go out and watch this ****e live, for I knew what was coming - it's simply not worth the aggravation...
Oh, yes, did I mention that Smuda used the right-back Marcin Wasilewski as a central defender for the entire tournament? Or that he failed to give
Legia Warszawa's 19-year old attacking midfielder Rafal Wolski (see video below - just make sure to mute the "music") a run?
[video=youtube;co9uy0k4wG4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9uy0k4wG4[/video]
Following Poland's elimination, Smuda blithely stated that at least we didn't cop any four or five nil thrashings. Well, I think that I'll just end my post here, as I'm getting way too pissed off to write any more. No wonder my girlfriend always says that football is bad for my health...
