From Villain to National Hero?: The Life of Czeslaw Michniewicz, the Polish Coach and Messi and Argentina Fan

Is called Czesław Michniewicz (52) and it is the DT of Poland, the last and complex obstacle that will have Lionel Scaloni’s selection in his quest to reach the last 16 of this World Cup in Qatar 2022. He says, without blushing, that he is a fan of Argentina (“But Not Tomorrow”, he clarifies). He admits he paid for tickets to see Lionel Messi when he played for Barcelona and is encouraged to liken him to a skiing legend for how he dodges rivals on the pitch.

But he doesn’t just praise his rival. Hours away from a transcendental encounter, Michniewicz speculates his team are the favorites because right now “they’re the leader of the pack”. And she’s not afraid to say it. Nor was she afraid, days ago, to leave the concentration of her team to go for a walk in Doha and smoke a hookah in a restaurant in Souq Waqif.

He’s clearly a character. A character who here in Doha, with his generous humanity of one meter ninety and about one hundred kilos, is ultra nice and frontal. But this has caused a lot of controversy in Poland since he took office on January 31 this year in the position that Paulo Sousa suddenly left. It was around this time that Michniewicz, born in Belarus and nicknamed the “Polish Mourinho”The opportunity he had been waiting for all his life has opened up. But it was also the time when the carpetazos began to fly.

And this his journey as DT didn’t have too many scrolls. Not even his goalkeeping career in a career that spanned nearly two decades. However, leading Legia Warsaw to the Olympic Tour in 2020-2021 has positioned him to take charge of the national team beyond criticism from Polish football’s old glories.

And that’s when old complaints discovered again since his last time as a player and his early days as a DT, product of his extremely close relationship with an intriguing character called Ryszard Forbrichbut which is known to all as The barber.

This man with a unique nickname is accused of being the (evil?) patron of Polish football and has racked up numerous charges for alleged match-fixing.

Michniewicz met Forbrich when playing for his last club, Amica Wronki, who was involved in some strange manoeuvres. There were great suspicions surrounding the 1998 Polish Cup final, which his team won thanks to an alleged intervention by the Barber and his negotiating network.

Michniewicz was unharmed, but it didn’t take him long to hang up the gloves and become a television analyst. But Forbrich crossed paths with him again and immediately offered him a job, now as DT of Lech Poznan. And once again he has fallen under the shadow of match-fixing.

So much so that in the investigation they discovered 591 communications, about 27 hours of talks, between the DT and the Barber which occurred before and after the 11 games played between 2003 and 2005 that were suspected. The scandal was huge when it was uncovered and even jeopardized the making of Euro 2012 in Poland, but our man was finally cleared.

When he was appointed Poland manager a handful of months ago, a journalist ran the story and was quickly sued by Michniewicz. “If he was convicted, he wouldn’t be sitting with us. Calling him a gangster is offensive”warned Cezary Kulesza, current president of the Federation.

The concrete thing is that Poland ended up in the World Cup after winning the playoffs against Sweden and now, as he told DT, they are the leader of group C and the one with the best chance of qualifying for the round of 16, leaving Argentina Put behind. . Perhaps it ends up being the classic parable of the villain who ends up becoming a national hero.

a relaxed chat

“I already have the lineup in mind, but we still have training ahead of us and we’ll see there,” Michniewicz said in the press conference that preceded Scaloni’s and in which he did not release the Poland lineup’s clothing.

Immediately, the DT was consulted on the stellar duel between Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi: “Regarding this face-to-face, I think that when we saw the draw and Argentina touched us, everyone expected this match for that duel. But we have to remember that this is a Poland-Argentina match, it’s not a Leo Messi against Robert Lewandowski. They’re two fabulous players. Who’s the better of the two? I’m not saying it, it’s not touching here.”

Poland are one of three teams, along with Morocco and Brazil, who have yet to concede a goal. “I’m very happy with our games, especially in the defensive phase, which is very important in this type of tournament. We made mistakes, but few and they didn’t score us. All the players were very good, not just the goalkeeper,” he underlined.

Praises to Messi and a curious comparison

“How to stop Messi. Everyone is asking. No one will find the magic formula to stop Messi. He scored many goals. He said it’s his last World Cup, so he must be very focused and motivated. He had problems in the first game, but many they give him as a candidate. I am very happy to face Messi, because I went to Barcelona to see him when the coach was Gerardo Martino. Tomorrow we will be close. And we really want to play against Argentina. We respect all our rivals,” said the technician when the name of the best footballer in the world appeared again at the press conference.

After citing the unbeaten run of the national team, surprise cut against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday 22, Michniewicz compared Leo to Alberto Tombsthe already retired 55-year-old Italian skier, considered a legend of alpine skiing and winner of three gold medals at the Winter Olympics in the slalom discipline.

“Argentina is a team that hadn’t lost in 36 games until they got here, I saw them play in June, they played very well. It’s a great team. Against Saudi they didn’t do their best match but they still made many chances. We have a different approach. Maybe they were too relaxed, or a lot of stress or pressure and that’s why they lost. He has a lot of quality, they have Messi. Messi is the Alberto Tomba of skiing, it’s everywhere, like in slalom, dodge everyone, we’ll make it stop as a team, among all”, specified the DT.

The coach declared himself an admirer of Argentine football, more precisely of the fervor with which this sport is lived in our country, and said he was a fan of Mario Alberto Kempes. He also said, as an anecdote, that he was in Lusail to watch the duel between Argentina and Mexico and was surprised by the crowd’s reaction to Messi’s goal, where he received a hug from a fan who was sitting next to him.

“We are happy to face Argentina because the team is very focused on this match. They must be happy, relaxed because it is not customary to play against Argentina”, concluded the coach with all his sympathy.

Doha, Qatar. Special delivery.