Inside Polish Sports

In Part 3 of our World Cup flashback, we'll look at the darkest time in post-war Polish history. On December 13, 1981, Jaruzelski's army declared war on its own people and this meant that the national team couldn't play any friendlies leading up to the World Cup finals in Spain. The first 235 minutes against Italy, Cameroon and Peru gave us no goals and no reason to hope. But then Zbigniew Boniek propelled his teammates and introduced himself as a world-class player, especially with a sublime hat-trick against Belgium which even stunned Pele.

Who the hell needs the World Cup anyway! Polish Sports were doing just fine last weekend with Jeremy Sochan becoming our first ever NBA Champion(of course it matters that he won it on the court and not on a technicality due to playing for the Spurs earlier this season!). Kamil Majchrzak won his first ATP singles title. Kuba Śmiechowski won the LMP2 class at Le Mans for the third time in 4 years. Radosław Piesiewicz was finally given the Olympic committee handbag and Lewy is almost there with his Chicago Fire move, but of course doesn't need a meeting with fans at..............1:30 am?!
1982 World Cup retrospective coming up tomorrow night!

On May 16th Maja Chwalińska left her twenty-five-square-meter flat in Bielsko-Biała simply wanting to survive in Paris and make the French Open main draw. Her manager simply wanted her to make the second or even third round. 23 days later she returned to Poland a national hero and having not just survived and conquered the courts and her opponents to forever write her script into Tennis and Polish sporting histories.
Her runner-up finish is not just her personal triumph, but of all who have supported her and also a notice to us all that we can't let her down twice after her depression struggles. Also I'll talk about how it should be a rallying cry for us to finally support our individual talents mentally and not just physically.

In Part 2 of our World Cup retrospective we will take a deeper look on what could've been a golden three-headed hydra of Boniek, Deyna and Lubański destroying everyone in 1978. Instead Jacek Gmoch wanted to sacrifice Pan Włodek in his one and only tournament for the young Boniek which then lead to a fateful situation when Boniek suggested to Deyna that he should take the penalty against Argentina.
My heart breaks thinking about just how different history would've been then................

In Part 1 of our four-part lookback at the World Cups during Polish Football's golden era we will reminisce on the summer when Kazimierz Górski's Eagles announced themselves to the footballing world in incredible fashion by beating the likes of Argentina, Italy and even Brazil and finishing as the third best team on the planet.
If only it didn't rain dragons and elephants in Frankfurt when we played the Germans..........(angry face emoji).

Maja Chwalińska is knocking out her French Open opponents just like Ali was hooking Sonny Liston! The Dąbrowa Górnicza native is on the lips of the whole Tennis world after going from 113th in the rankings to at least 49th after reaching the quarterfinals. It truly makes all of her prior struggles worth it and even Aryna Sabalenka herself says that she could go up the rankings as high as one could imagine. Who knows if she'll face her in the semis, because as we found out her style is a problem for everyone and is something that the clay courts haven't seen at all in the post-Nadal era.
Also, Iga's struggles continue as she loses to Marta Kostyuk, Fenerbahce's potential new chairman wants to make a run at Lewy, the national team loses a friendly(but don't sack Jan Urban yet!), Wieczysta makes it three in bed for Kraków in the Ekstraklasa and not even Rivaldo and Del Piero can save Michał Probierz from losing against Adam Nawałka's own legends team!
Marta Kostyuk's Polish coach: https://sandrazaniewska.substack.com/

Our Footballing Batwoman Ewa Pajor has finally shaken off her doubts and ghosts and has conquered the Gotham Clock Tower of the Women's Champions League after five previous final losses. Even though Barca Feminina has two women who won the Ballon d'Or each of the previous five years(Putellas and Bonmati), Ewa's two goals and assist in the 4-0 drubbing of Lyon on Saturday pretty much assures her spot on the podium of this year's vote. If only the national team doesn't let her down and she carries them to next year's World Cup in Brazil..........!Also, Lukas Podolski retires as player and debuts as owner of UCL qualifiers Górnik Zabrze, Matty Cash wins the Europa League with Aston Villa, Lewy is courted from both Chicago and Saudi and why the French Open should relent and give the players(especially losers in earlier rounds) a bigger slice of the revenue share.

There is still something is our eyes after Lewy's farewell to Camp Nou on Sunday Night. It is surreal that his four seasons there have gone in a blink of a eye, almost as sureal as the fact itself that a Pole was the main star of the world's most famous and beloved club. Knowing Robert he doesn't need to take the sultan's ransom (90 million Euro a year!) to sign with Al-Hilal, but reports say that Chicago Fire might've beaten them with the offer.
In the Ekstraklasa Legia somehow might end in the European places, Lech celebrates its 10th title and the final day might just become our equivalent of eye porn! Also, Ewa Pajor can win the treble with the Barca Women and Iga breaks her semifinal duck after......10 months?!

Robert Lewandowski's achievements by now are so expected that we seem to forget how extraordinary they are. With Barca clinching the LaLiga, he has now won FOURTEEN domestic league titles in just eighteen top flight seasons. He and Wojciech Szczęsny acted accordingly during the bus parade, including some off-cut Jan Tomaszewski impressions!
Also, Iga re-finds her mojo in Rome, Wisła celebrates its promotion with manager Mariusz Jop repelling his own goal sins, Wieczysta might not get promoted at all as owner wants to work with Wisła instead, Tymek Kucharczyk wins at Indy and my autopsy all the reasons why our Hockey boys will spend another year in the second tier purgatory.

Piotr Zieliński set off a Scudetto party at San Siro as his goal helped Inter win their 21st Italian title and Zielu's second after winning it with Napoli three years ago. Meanwhile, in Porto Kiwior, Bednarek and Pietuszewski celebrated their own domestic crown. When did I hear that before: Three Polish guys in one club, hmmmmmmmmmmm........?
Also, Wisła are all but promoted, Lech are all but champions, Ewa Pajor is all but a CL winner with Barca, Jeremy Sochan is all but sitting on the Knicks bench, and the Polish Luge head coach was all but fired through..........a Facebook job advert.
Episode introduced by the one and only New York Islanders legend Mariusz Czerkawski, whom I met at the Division I A World Championships in Sosnowiec on Sunday! Full review of that tournament in next week's episode.