Polish football in mourning
With the start of the World Cup just two weeks away, and the Polish national side preparing for their group matches, many football fans are reminiscing about the last time the World Cup was held in Germany.
Those memories of the great days of Polish football came back strong last week with the death of Kazimierz Górski - the legendary coach of the Polish side that first eliminated England in the qualifying round and then, in the 1974 World Cup, defeated the giants of Argentina, Italy and Brazil to win third place in the competition. This achievement, for football fans, takes second place to the gold medals the team took in the 1972 Olympics, and the silver medals it won in 1976.
The team, known as Górski's Eagles, stayed in the hearts of all football fans in Poland and created a standard that no national side has since met. Not only did Górski's side win medals against football superpowers, but they also thrilled fans with their attractive style of playing and offense-oriented tactics.
His players called him a "second father," the public and media loved him for his modesty and he shared Bill Shankly's knack for simple, eloquent football homilies, such as: "The ball is round and there are two goals" or "As long as the ball is in play, there's always a chance."
Although friendly and warm he was not afraid to make bold and controversial decisions, such as in 1974 when he replaced an experienced defender with a 20-year-old player and introduced another young gun to start as a striker. The young defender, Władysław Żmuda, went on to play in four World Cups, while the striker, Andrzej Szarmach, scored five goals during the 1974 championships.
Some claim that Górski had a timely coaching career that coincided with a team of extremely talented players, who would have achieved success under any coach. True, Kazimierz Deyna was one of the top playmakers of his generation, Grzegorz Lato was the top scorer at the 1974 World Cup, and goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski, the man who stopped England in the qualifying round for the 1974 World Cup, was an expert in saving penalties. But four years later, under a different coach, the same players along with new talents constituted potentially the best team in Polish history and yet didn't make it past the quarter-finals. Górski proved his greatness when he went to work as a coach in Greece, winning national championships with two clubs in that country, Panathinaikos Athens and Olympiakos Piraeus.
