Polish National Soccer Team Nationalizing Foreighn Players Such as Koscielny
haves and have nots
The Polish National Football(soccer) Team has undergone many changes in the past few years. The team is not as good as they have the potential to be, because all the potential is abroad. Good polish players play for other countries because of promise of winning. There is also the fact that they have that country to thank for their football careers.
Poland missed out on bright players such as Lucasz Podolski and Miroslaw Klos, thou these names may not be their names now, they were their birth names in Poland. Both left the country as little children, maybe two or three years old and were developed as football superstars in Germany. Podolski wanted to play for Poland but he was novice at the time. Trochowski is another German national with a clearly polish name.
Many players in other countries have polish roots, or ties to the country. Poland can't outdo Germany in nationalizing foreign players but they can get their squad a little stronger by aquiering players with polish roots. Emmanuel Olisadebe was Poland's Nigerian acquisition and made an impact. Later came Roger Guerreiro the Legia star who had the only goal in the 2008 Euro Cup. These men joined the national side in order to have a national career. As good as these men were they would not have been appreciated in their native countries.
The wave of nationalization is taking place. Many players with Polish roots who don't necessarily even speak the language are considering the polish side....unless they have a better option. The players simply want to play soccer for a country. Two misses Poland recently had are Laurent Koscielny and Robert Acquafresca, who both have polish roots. They considered Poland but backed out and decided to play for their birth countries that are more reputable. Koscielny just recently, on Feb. of 2011 received his debut for France after performing at a high level for Arsenal.
Despite not being able to acquire big name players like Koscielny and Acquafresca, the squad is strengthening in preparation for Euro 2012. Aacquisitions have been made such as Ludovic Obraniak who could not compete with Ribery for a position in the French squad. Obraniak is one of the first to make an impact. Other vary reecent nationalized players include; Sebastian Boenisch, Maor Melikson, Hernani Jose da Rosa, and Hernani. Manuel Arboleda and Damien Perquis are in the process of getting their polish citizenship right now.
Will these foreigners help the polish national team? Well, being ranked in the 70's in the world is a good indicator that some foreign born help would be useful.
