The team leader unexpectedly set up a specialist. It only took one call!
Czeslava Mikhnevicha has long been criticized for its idiosyncratic playstyle. Under his leadership, the Polish national team, despite a solid set of performers in the attack, showed dull defensive football. The team literally tortured the result in every match of the 2022 World Cup group stage and only miraculously slipped into the playoffs, where, however, the Poles were immediately besieged by the French.
Not surprisingly, at the end of the tournament, the national federation broke off cooperation with the coach. However, this decision, as it turned out, was not taken by the Polish bosses on their own. Robert Lewandowski personally insisted on leaving the specialist.
The leader of the team simply leaked the coach.
Trainer for results
Czesław Mikhniewicz took charge of the Polish national team less than a year before the start of the 2022 World Cup, and for many this appointment came as an unpleasant surprise. On the one hand, the specialist recently won the national championship for Legia Warsaw, on the other hand, this was the end of his success over the past decade and a half. Yes, the coach had experience working with the Polish youth team, but even there Mikhnevich did not show anything outstanding.
In a word, there were enough professionals of this caliber in Poland and abroad. Why the preparation of the national team for such a responsible tournament as the World Cup was entrusted to Cheslav was absolutely incomprehensible. His playing style also did not speak in favor of the coach: Mikhnevich did not put attacking football on his teams – there was no need to talk about entertainment at all. Nevertheless, the coach knew how to bring any result – apparently, this is what the national federation relied on.
Actually, in Qatar, the Poles just “achieved a result”, or rather, tortured it. After a dismal draw with Mexico (0:0), the national team won their first and, as it turned out, their last victory in the tournament (2:0 against Saudi Arabia). The team went to the game with Argentina with the firm intention of defending the zeros, and then simply tried not to bring the matter to a rout. As a result, the team lost to the future champions (0:2), but managed to leave the group on additional indicators. Poland was put in its place at the very first stage of the playoffs: the French confidently dealt with cowardly opponents (3:1).
Getting to ⅛ was a tolerable result for the 26th team of the world, but the team clearly had no prospects under the leadership of Mikhnevich. The coach’s contract with the federation was calculated until the end of the year, so on December 31, Cheslav, most likely, would have already slammed the door behind him. However, Lewandovsky and the company did not want to wait for the decision of the authorities and made another scandal.
Call with an ultimatum
On December 22, it became known that the Polish Football Federation would indeed not renew the agreement with Mihnevich. The press service of the association announced this officially, transparently hinting that Cheslav is not suitable for long-term work:
— In order to correctly assess the work of the coach, we had to take into account other key issues, such as a perspective on the future functioning of the national team and the direction of its development. Therefore, after many meetings and analyzes, we made a difficult decision to terminate our cooperation, the announcement says.
As it turned out, the federation did not make this decision on its own. The position of the leadership was directly influenced by the players of the national team, and in particular by Lewandowski. According to Interia, Robert personally called the head of the national association, Cesar Kulesh, to express his dissatisfaction with the work of Mikhnevich.
The football player also conveyed to the manager the point of view of the team, which was even more categorical. Several players threatened to leave the national team if Czesław continued to lead it. Kulesh was actually given an ultimatum, and he went along with the national team, announcing in advance that he was parting with the specialist.
However, for Polish football players, it seems that such a dastardly method of solving problems is the norm. Threatening FIFA with a boycott, the national team “passed” Russia in the play-offs in the selection for the World Cup. Myself Lewandowski at one time, he tormented Borussia in the same way, demanding a transfer to Bayern, and then Bayern itself, seeking a transfer to Barcelona. And his current act fits perfectly into this trend.