The Soccernostalgia Interview, Part 72- Poland in the 2002 World Cup-Video Interview and Blog Presentation with Mr. Jakub Drożdż, the Founder of Polish Football Alamanac and Football enthusiast)

 

For this interview, I look back at Poland’s participation in the 2002 World Cup in Japan/South Korea.

The Interview will be as a video link companion, while the Blog will be a presentation of the events.

This Interview was preceded by an Interview about Poland’s qualification campaign for the 2002 World cup.

The Interviewee is:

Mr. Jakub Drożdż

 

Mr. Drożdż is the Founder of Polish Football Alamanac and Football enthusiast.

 

Link to the previous Interview on the qualification campaign:

https://soccernostalgia.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-soccernostalgia-interview-part-70.html

https://soccernostalgia.blogspot.com/2023/09/compendium-to-soccernostalgia-interview.html

 

 

Mr. Drożdż’s contact info:

Twitter: @P_F_Almanac.

Website: http://www.polishfootballalmanac.net/

 

 

My contact information:

on twitter @sp1873 and on facebook under Soccernostalgia.

https://linktr.ee/sp1873

Poland in the 2002 World Cup:

 

The year 2002 kicked off in a positive way as Poland were to embark on their first World Cup adventure since 1986. A whole new generation had not seen Poland in a World Cup.

Jerzy Engel had earned much credit for guiding this squad and the integration of the Nigerian-born Emmanuel Olisadebe to lead the frontline.

However, the serious business of the World Cup in Japan/Korea lay ahead, and it was time to prepare and experiment.

In February, Poland were at a training camp in Cyprus and played two friendlies in matter of days. On February 9^th, 2002, they faced the Faroe Islands and on February 13^th, Northern Ireland were their opponents.

Photo From: World Soccer, Summer 2002 

The Faroe Islands match was used as a last chance match for fringe players to make the squad. As many as nine players made their International debuts in this match (2-1 win).

The full-strength side was used for the match vs. Northern Ireland and comfortably won (4-1).

However, this would be the extent of Poland’s progress and in the following months, the team struggled.

On March 27^th, 2002, Poland hosted Japan at Lodz. It was seen as a proper test ahead of the World Cup match vs. South Korea in June.

Poland were defeated (0-2) in what Engel described as the worst first 45 minutes of his managerial career with the National Team.

Nevertheless, he felt the defeat could serve as a great lesson for his side.

Engel’s tactics were criticized by the Press and that may have been a factor for the tactics in the next match vs. Romania on April 17^th at Bydgoszcz.

In this match, Engel surprisingly chose a 3-5-2 formation (from his usual 4-4-2) and changed five of the starters from the Japan match.

This experimentation did not work, and Poland lost (1-2) at home and the Press remained dissatisfied.

Photo From: World Soccer, May 2002

(Jerzy Engel)

Furthermore, Bartosz Karwan would be injured after this match, and this would rule him out of the World Cup. Jerzy Engel described his injury as a ‘major blow’ to his team’s chances.

Engel selected his Final 23 in May just days ahead of the team’s final friendly ahead of the World Cup against Estonia on May 18^th at Warszawa (1-0 win).

There were a few surprises in the final selection as Arkadiusz Glowacki, Maciej Murawski and Pawel Sibik were inexperienced at international level, while Cezary Kucharski’s previous cap had been in 1998.

Tomasz Iwan’s form had dropped since the previous year, and he was omitted from the Finals squad. Veterans Swierczewski and Waldoch criticized Engel’s decision.

Poland started its World Cup playing against the co-hosts South Korea on June 4^th, 2002. Just like the friendly against Japan in March, the Poles could not adapt to the game of the Koreans and were defeated (0-2).

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2930bis, June 7, 2002

(June 4, 2002, World Cup, South Korea 2-Poland 0)

A few days later, on June 10^th at Jeonju, South Korea, they faced the Portugal side of the Golden Generation (Figo, Rui Costa, Fernando Couto, etc).

Portugal would win (4-0), and Poland’s World Cup was now a disaster.

The last match in the group against the United States on June 14^th, at Daejeon, South Korea, was inconsequential at this point.

Engel decided to reshuffle his squad and included much of the rest of the squad. In the end, 22 of the 23 players in the Polish roster participated in the World Cup.

Poland played its best game as the pressure was off and ran out winners (3-1).

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 162, July 2002

(June 10, 2002, World Cup, Portugal 4-Poland 0)

Photo From: FIFA 2002 World Cup Report

(June 14, 2002, World Cup, Poland 3-USA 1)

However, the World Cup had been a complete disappointment (as had the lead up to it).

Jerzy Engel paid the price, despite being universally hailed just six months before.

On July 8^th, Zbigniew Boniek was appointed as the new Manager of Poland.

Despite the unhappy end, Engel’s legacy will remain this historic qualification that would have seemed unlikely just prior to his appointment.

Poland would start to qualify more regularly to World Cups and Euros and this 2002 qualification may have helped in retrospect.

 

 

Photo From: Bialo Czerwoni 1921-2001, Author Andrzej Gowarzewski

(Zbigniew Boniek, Michal Listkiewicz, Jerzy Engel)

 

References:

World Soccer, March 2002

World Soccer, April 2002

World Soccer, May 2002

World Soccer, June 2002

World Soccer, Summer 2002

World Soccer, July 2002

World Soccer, August 2002

FIFA 2002 World Cup Report

Onze-Mondial, Hors Serie 37, March 2002