Football World Cup 1974 / Poland

The Polish national soccer team took third place at the 1974 World Cup in Germany .

qualification

Poland qualified in a group of three for the 1974 World Cup against England and Wales .

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Poland	6: 3	5: 3
2	England	3: 4	4: 4
3	Wales	3: 5	3: 5

Wales	-	Poland	2: 0 (0: 0)
Poland	-	England	2: 0 (1: 0)
Poland	-	Wales	3: 0 (2: 0)
England	-	Poland	1: 1 (0: 0)

The decisive game on October 17th at Wembley Stadium in London brought the greatest sensation in the European qualifying games for the 1974 World Cup. Poland started as the current Olympic champion at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich , but England was considered the world champion of the 1966 World Cup big favorite of the group. England had to win to qualify, while Poland reached a draw. At Wembley, however, Poland took the lead through Jan Domarski in the 57th minute. Another hero of the game was goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski , who made the English attackers desperate. Only a penalty in the 63rd minute by England captain Allan Clarke could defeat him. Poland qualified for a World Cup tournament for the first time since 1938 .

Polish contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Andrzej Fischer	Górnik Zabrze	January 15, 1952	0	0	0	0
2	Jan Tomaszewski	ŁKS Łódź	01/09/1948	7th	0	0	0
3	Zygmunt Kalinowski	Śląsk Wrocław	05/02/1949	0	0	0	0
Defender
4th	Antoni Szymanowski	Wisła Krakow	01/13/1951	7th	0	0	0
5	Zbigniew Good	Odra Opole	04/17/1949	2	0	0	0
6th	Jerzy Gorgoń	Górnik Zabrze	07/18/1949	7th	1	1	0
8th	Miroslaw Bulzacki	ŁKS Łódź	October 23, 1951	0	0	0	0
9	Wladyslaw Żmuda	Gwardia Warsaw	06/06/1954	7th	0	0	0
10	Adam Musiał	Wisła Krakow	December 18, 1948	6th	0	1	0
midfield player
7th	Henryk Wieczorek	Ruch Chorzów	December 14, 1949	0	0	0	0
11	Lesław Ćmikiewicz	Legia Warsaw	08/25/1948	6th	0	0	0
12	Kazimierz Deyna	Legia Warsaw	10/23/1947	7th	3	0	0
13	Henryk Kasperczak	FKS Stal Mielec	07/10/1946	7th	0	2	0
14th	Zygmunt Maszczyk	Ruch Chorzów	05/03/1945	7th	0	0	0
15th	Roman Jakóbczak	Lech poses	02/26/1946	0	0	0	0
21st	Kazimierz Kmiecik	Wisła Krakow	09/19/1951	2	0	0	0
striker
16	Grzegorz Lato	FKS Stal Mielec	04/08/1950	7th	7th	0	0
17th	Andrzej Szarmach	Górnik Zabrze	10/03/1950	6th	5	1	0
18th	Robert Gadocha	Legia Warsaw	01/10/1946	7th	0	0	0
19th	Jan Domarski	FKS Stal Mielec	10/28/1946	3	0	0	0
20th	Zdzisław Kapka	Wisła Krakow	December 07, 1954	1	0	0	0
22nd	Marek Kusto	Wisła Krakow	04/29/1954	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Kazimierz Górski		03/02/1921

Polish games

In 1974, the World Cup was played for the first time in two final rounds and not in the knockout system that was common today and before. In the first final round, the Polish national team in Group 4 achieved the following results:

•  Poland  : Argentina 3-2 - goals: 1-0 Lato (7th min.), 2-0 Szarmach (8th min.), 2-1 Heredia (60th min.), 3: 1 Lato (62nd min.) .), 3: 2 Babington (66th min.) 

•  Poland  : Haiti 7-0 - goals: 1-0 Lato (17th min.), 2-0 Deyna (18th min.), 3-0 Szarmach (30th min.), 4-0 Gorgoń (31st min.) .), 5: 0 Szarmach (34th min.), 6: 0 Szarmach (50th min.), 7: 0 Lato (87th min.) 

•  Poland  : Italy 2-1 - goals: 1-0 Szarmach (38th min.), 2-0 Deyna (45th min.), 2-1 Capello (86th min.) 

Poland finished the first round as first group ahead of Argentina .

In the second final round, Poland played in Group B against:

•  Poland  : Sweden 1-0 - Goal: 1-0 Lato (43rd min.) 

•  Poland  : Yugoslavia 2-1 - goals: 1-0 Deyna (24th minute, penalty kick), 1: 1 Karasi (43rd minute), 2-1 Lato (62nd minute) 

•  Poland  : FRG 0-1 - Goal: 0-1 Müller (76th Min.) 

The decisive game to reach the final went down in football history as the water battle of Frankfurt . Germany needed a draw while the Polish team needed to win. With the same pitch situation, a conventional Bundesliga game would never have kicked off. However, the schedule of a soccer World Cup did not allow this and so the game became a game of chance. However, the German goalkeeper Sepp Maier surpassed himself and made perhaps the best international match of his career. Jan Tomaszewski in the Polish goal was in no way inferior to him. After Jerzy Gorgoń fouled Bernd Hölzenbein , he saved the penalty shot by Uli Hoeneß .

Second in group, the Polish team won the game for third place against the 1970 world champions , Brazil , 1-0. Grzegorz Lato scored the decisive goal in the 76th minute.

Web links

• The underestimated - Article on 11freunde.de