Robert Lewandowski stripped of Poland’s captaincy, resigns from national duty for the rest of Michał Probierz’s tenure

Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter

A totally avoidable situation came to a head this evening, as news broke that Selekcjoner Michał Probierz had taken the decision to appoint Piotr Zieliński as permanent Polish captain, stripping Robert Lewandowski of the honour.

Less than an hour later, Lewandowski announced his decision to resign from national team duties, for as long as Probierz remains in charge of the team. 

Obviously such a seismic event has drawn a breadth of opinions, and I’m sure my own will be patently evident as I trawl through all the major discussion in the wake of this decision through the rest of this article.

I hadn’t expected to write again until previewing Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against Finland, which has now taken on the spectre of a must-win match for Probierz. If the victory is not convincing, or if Poland drop points in Helsinki, I would not at all be surprised if Probierz finds himself out of a job.

For what it’s worth I think Probierz has done a lot of good in his first 18 months or so in charge, his first 12 months definitely. There was some backslide in the Nations League during the autumn, but this was to be expected in a sense. 

Unfortunately this episode now threatens to overshadow Probierz’s entire reign as Selekcjoner, given the way it has played out and the fact it’s taking place at such an unnecessary juncture.

Lewandowski is without a doubt the most talented and decorated player in Poland’s history, one we’ll be lucky to see the likes of for another 30 years. However, for his reaction to be so immediate and emotional does him no favours, even if in my opinion this is a situation mostly of Probierz’s making.

What irritates me further is Probierz’s blatant hypocrisy on this issue. Last Monday he said it was perfectly fine and normal that Lewandowski needed a rest, on Sunday he strips him of the captaincy.

Many will be quick to point out that this is in fact a good thing, because for whatever reason Lewandowski has always been judged a poor captain, an egotist and someone who perhaps thinks of himself as superior. Indeed, those who already were of this opinion were pleased to have it “confirmed” when he decided to pull out of the current training camp. Maybe there is some truth to this, but hardly to the extent which is often projected.

Also irritating is the fact that Lewandowski does not receive much of the same affection from the fans as other highly accomplished Polish players of recent history, and I think this is partly an image issue. Lewandowski is so hyper-focused on professionalism and performing at the highest level for the longest possible period of his career that this clashes with figures like Kamil Glik and similar, who also played at a very high level but weren’t afraid of enjoying a drink before or during a tournament. 

Glik and his ilk perhaps receive more affection for this more down-to-earth attitude, and Lewandowski’s professionalism puts him into such an un-relatable stratosphere that he can be hard to warm to for some fans. 

There is a suggestion that perhaps because of these high standards, Lewandowski is not liked by many in the Polish squad at present and this is part of the reasoning behind Probierz’s decision. This is certainly the viewpoint that some pundits are putting across. 

It’s also yet another indicator of how terribly run the PZPN has been in the past few years by Cezary Kulesza. In my opinion, something like this would never have happened under Zbigniew Boniek, although that was hardly a perfect outfit at times either.

Quite frankly, I’m of the opinion that not only does this represent a terrible scandal from an optics perspective, but also a sporting one. I think Zieliński is a wonderfully talented football player, but he’s not captain material. Lewandowski may clearly not have been universally liked by the squad but it’s obvious he has high standards and clearly expected them of others, too.

As far as I’m concerned this makes the national team weaker both in the long and short term, and I really don’t know which side of the argument Kulesza will come down on. Either he relieves Probierz of his role, which is easy to do if the team loses on Tuesday, or we stumble on in this awkward situation for another few months. 

I’m sure we’ll learn more about this situation in the coming days, but for now there is no point hiding the fact that this has been horribly dealt with and quite frankly, I think that this is a terribly stupid decision from Probierz to allow this situation to reach such a point of impasse from either party. Lewandowski should take some responsibility too, of course, but the fact this all seems to stem from the fact he (quite understandably) needed a rest at the age of almost 37 years-old after a season where he plays nearly 4,000 minutes at the highest level is bordering on pantomime. 

In any case, I’ll be back soon to preview Tuesday’s game and hopefully we’ll have a little more clarity on this situation one way or another by tomorrow night. 

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