Poland coach quits after Lewandowski boycott and World Cup qualifier loss
POLAND COACH MICHAL Probierz, who had been feuding with star striker Robert Lewandowski, has resigned for 'the good of the national team', the country's football federation said on Thursday.
'I have come to the conclusion that in the current situation the best decision for the good of the national team will be my resignation from the position of selector. Performing this function was the fulfilment of my professional dreams and the greatest honour in my life,' Probierz said in a statement from the Polish Football Federation (PZPN).
Lewandowski's announcement on Sunday that he would boycott the team while Probierz remained coach was followed by a 2-1 loss at Finland that knocked Poland off the top of their European World Cup qualifying group.
The striker was not part of the Polish squad in the recent international window. According to Polish news agency PAP, the Barcelona player had asked to be excused to rest.
Advertisement
Lewandowski was unhappy he had been stripped of the captain's armband by Probierz.
'Taking into account the circumstances and a loss of trust in the coach, I have decided to resign from playing for the Poland national team for as long as he remains in charge,' Lewandowski wrote on social media.
'I hope I will still have another chance to play again for the best fans in the world,' he added.
The 36-year-old Lewandowski made his Poland debut in 2008 and had been captain since 2014. He holds the Polish record for caps, with 158, and goals, with 85 – 37 more than the country's next highest scorer Wlodzimier Lubanski.
Probierz had been coach since September 2023. He led Poland to the Euro 2024 finals where they failed to win a game and were eliminated in the group stage.
In his 21 matches in charge he won nine, drew five and lost seven.
'Thank you, of course, to all the footballers I have had the pleasure of meeting along the way,' he wrote in the PZPN post.
'I will keep my fingers crossed for all of you, because the national team is our common national asset.'
©AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- RTÉ News
Phil Foden: 'The hunger inside me is back'
Phil Foden is determined "to prove people wrong" and bounce back from a frustrating 2024-25 campaign. The star player as Manchester City won a fourth successive Premier League title the season before last, Foden lost his spark amid an underwhelming team performance. But now feeling refreshed after a short break, the 25-year-old shone as City kicked off their challenge at the Club World Cup with a comfortable 2-0 win over Wydad Casablanca in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Foden opened the scoring after just two minutes against the Moroccans and then delivered the corner from which Jeremy Doku claimed the second just before the break. For the England international it was an immediate justification of his decision to sit out the recent internationals to prepare for this summer's tournament in the United States. Foden said: "It was a difficult season. I'm not going to lie, it was not the best. "But I got a little bit of time off, rested. New start, new me. Just looking forward to the season. "The hunger inside me is back and I want to prove people wrong." Having represented England at Euro 2024, Foden says he "can't remember" the last time he had a significant spell of rest. "Not a lot of footballers these days get much time off, so it was very important," he said. "I struggled to switch off completely but I just rested with the family, did my own thing and stuff. I needed it." Foden, playing a deeper role than usual, was instrumental in a side featuring two debutants in Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki. None of the four-strong captaincy group revealed by manager Pep Guardiola on the eve of the match - Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Ruben Dias or Erling Haaland - started, leaving goalkeeper Ederson to wear the armband. Their Moroccan opponents had some bright moments as City as tempered their game in difficult, humid conditions but the Premier League side remained in control. The only blot on their afternoon was the late sending-off of defender Rico Lewis for a sliding challenge in which he caught Samuel Obeng in the face. Foden said: "It was very good, obviously, to start the tournament off with a win. It was massively important. "When they had the ball I was playing as a holding midfielder, so it's something I've not been used to but I enjoyed it. I want to be in the middle as much as I can. "I'm working on things that I can improve but I'm happy to get back in with the goals, and creating chances as well. That's what I want to do. "We want to try and put last year behind us and get back to how we used to be. The determination is definitely there."
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- RTÉ News
'I wasn't confident before the friendlies and I'm still not confident now' - Keith Treacy on Ireland's upcoming World Cup campaign
Back in September 2022, Keith Treacy opined that the Republic of Ireland were "sleepwalking" into the Euro 2024 qualifiers. As it turned out, the Boys in Green would soon be dropped into a group featuring France and the Netherlands, and when the games were played, it was the matches against Pot 4 side Greece that proved to be the most disappointing of all. Fast forward to this year and Ireland will get their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying journey underway in September with Hungary, Armenia and Nations League champions Portugal awaiting in a quickfire campaign across three autumn windows. So off the back of this month's friendly draws against Senegal and Luxembourg, does Treacy feel Ireland are sleepwalking into another chastening experience? Or to borrow a Green Day song title, will it be a case of 'Wake me up when September ends' after a dream start to the qualifiers against Hungary at home and Armenia away? The answer is more of a pessimistic one as ex-Boys in Green winger Treacy outlined on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast. "I wouldn't put too much weight behind any of the friendlies," he said, pointing to a display which manager Heimir Hallgrimsson himself described as "boring" against Luxembourg, and drawing with a Senegal side that had more of an eye on England who they eventually did beat in Nottingham days later. "(We're) yet to get a 90 minute performance over the two games. The Luxembourg one in particular is one that really grates on me because you look at the World Cup qualifying group, obviously Portugal and Hungary are that little bit better than us. "I look at those fixtures and think we'll play above ourselves because we so often do. "But it has to be a given that we get six points against Armenia and the way we played against Luxembourg just does not fill me with any confidence that we can do that. "I suppose the bigger question in all of this is, after the two friendlies, am I more confident that we can qualify from this World Cup group? And I wouldn't say I am. "I wasn't confident before the friendlies and I'm still not confident now." Treacy believes every out-field unit of the team has some question marks over it - and not just the more obvious area of midfield. "Everybody says we have brilliant defensive players; Jake O'Brien, Nathan Collins, (Dara) O'Shea - yes they are Premier League players - but we've only kept two clean sheets in the last ten games. That's nowhere near good enough," he said. "We've only scored eight goals in our last ten games. That's not good enough for people that are telling me we've got really good strikers and we've got really good defenders. "If we did, we'd be scoring a lot more goals and we'd be keeping a lot more clean sheets. "Then you look at the midfield. We still can't keep the ball so we can't be a possession-based team because we can't keep the ball under pressure. "Anybody with a half-decent press can come and get rewards off of us. If we can't be a possession-based team, we have to be extremely well-drilled out of possession and we're not extremely well-drilled out of possession. "Heimir can sit here and say, 'Keith, we've gotten harder to beat'. I take that on board. I do think we've got harder to beat, I do think there's a little bit of progression there. "But is there enough progression to go and nick a point off a Portugal and beat them at home? To beat Hungary? I'm not so sure. "Like I said, I think we've got better but I don't think we've made up the gulf in class and we're getting thrown straight into the deep end. Hungary at home, Armenia away, first two games, feels like it's going to need six points straight off the bat and I'm sitting here thinking I've very little confidence in this Irish team doing that."
Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Former referee David Coote charged by FA over Klopp comments
Former Premier League referee David Coote has been charged by the FA relating to comments he made on a social media clip last year. He has already been sacked by the PGMOL since November of last year after what they described as a "thorough investigation". They said: "David Coote's actions were found to be in serious breach of the provisions of his employment contract. "Supporting David Coote continues to be important to us and we remain committed to his welfare." He was subsequently banned by UEFA in February. This comes after footage emerged of Coote sniffing a white powder while at Euro 2024. As well as this, he was also accused of predetermining a yellow card with a fan at a Championship match in 2019, a claim which he was cleared of. Coote was charged under rule E3.1, which purports that he acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words. The use of Klopp's nationality in the video constituted an "aggravated" breach according to the FA. Coote came out as gay this January and said that he hid his sexuality within the game due to fears of abuse.
