Mikhnevich’s warning. “There is no room for error”

“Sometimes, unfortunately, fate also helps in the end,” Jerzy Engel (69) and Bohuslav Kaczmarek (72) recall in unison in an interview with Fakt. The first was the coach of the national team that entered the World Cup in Korea and Japan in 2002. The second helped Leo Beenhakker to lead the national team at EURO 2008.

Wales anxiety. They fear for the bones of our players. Lukasz Piszczek makes it clear

Polish representation. Need to tremble for the health of the players

And they both know what they’re talking about. Engel had to come to terms with the loss of Eusebiusz Smolarek, Tomasz Zdebel or Bartos Karvan. Each of them was supposed to fly to Asia, but injuries prevented them. Kaczmarek and Benhakker had to cope without Jakub Blaszczykowski, Radoslav Matusiak or Grzegorz Rasiak. - And as if that’s not enough, after the match with Belgium, when we were all celebrating the promotion, Radoslav Sobolevsky came up to me and said that he would no longer play in the team, - Kaczmarek recalls.

It was a serious loss for both teams. And since these were, to put it mildly, not the golden years of our football, the selection of replacements was not the easiest. We searched literally everywhere. We even visited the matches of Znich Pruszkov, who played at the second level, - says a former assistant of Beenhakker and claims that it was close, and Robert Lewandowski was supposed to hold the first big tournament in 2008, but the breeder abandoned this risky idea. “He said that if, after two years of selection, we suddenly appoint an unrestricted left, it would be too big a step,” recalls Kaczmarek.

There was less choice, and observation opportunities were not what they are today. There were no broadcasts from every league in the world, and travel was not so easy. - When we couldn’t go somewhere, we asked the clubs to give us records. In addition, we kept in touch with the players all the time,” says Engel.

Polish representation. Mikhnevich must make a choice

Finally, from a list of approximately 30 players, 23 lucky players had to be selected to participate in the tournament. Today the team may be more than three players, but someone still needs to be removed. This is where the dilemma arises. Whether to convey the decision personally to those who do not participate in the World Cup, or silently cross out the names. - I spoke only with those who are on the reserve list. With the rest, there was no such need. There was also a group of players on the standby list who were supposed to be on standby in case someone went out at the last minute, but this is a different case,” says Engel.

The Poles are in a good mood. My friends shouted to Schensny: “Give me Gikevich!”

Mikhnevich will soon take up the pen. And start combing it. “The closer to the tournament, the more difficult it becomes,” Engel admits. There are fewer and fewer names, time is running out. The coach recently stated that he has 18 certainties, which means that there are still eight vacancies. There are at least twice as many applicants.