Lewandowski will not play for Poland under current coach after losing captaincy
ROBERT Lewandowski said he will not play for Poland again under the current manager, shortly after the striker was stripped of the captaincy role on Sunday.
Poland coach Michal Probierz made the decision to replace Lewandowski as national team captain with midfielder Piotr Zielinski.
"By decision of coach Michal Probierz, Piotr Zielinski became the new captain of the Polish national team," a Polish football federation (PZPN) statement said.
"The coach personally informed Robert Lewandowski, the entire team and the training staff of his decision."
Lewandowski's response via social media was swift.
"Considering the circumstances and the loss of trust in the Polish national team coach, I have decided to step back from playing for the Polish national team as long as he remains the coach," Lewandowski said.
"I hope I will have the chance to play again for the best fans in the world."
Lewandowski is not with the current Poland squad, with the Barcelona player citing physical and mental exhaustion after a long season as the reason for his absence.
The 36-year-old is Poland's highest goal scorer with 85 goals for his country in a record 158 appearances, and had held the captaincy since 2014.
Probierz replaced the sacked Fernando Santos as Poland manager in 2023, taking them to Euro 2024 where his side were the first team to be eliminated.
The PZPN said Probierz will respond to questions on the situation in a press conference on Monday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
21 hours ago
- The Sun
Kluivert tells Indonesia to learn from Japan thrashing in World Cup hunt
Patrick Kluivert told his wounded Indonesia side they must learn from their embarrassing 6-0 thrashing by Japan as they attempt to reach the World Cup for the first time as an independent country. Indonesia's dreams of appearing at their first finals since gaining independence in 1945 are still alive after they finished fourth in Asian qualifying Group C. They join Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Asian champions Qatar in October's fourth qualifying round, with the draw to be made next month. The winners of the two three-team groups will advance to next year's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Netherlands and Barcelona great Kluivert admitted that Group C winners Japan were 'a size too big' for his team in Osaka on Tuesday. 'We need to learn from this big defeat,' said the 48-year-old, who took over midway through the third qualifying round. 'We're very disappointed, of course, but we have to be prepared for the fourth round, and for me now the most important thing is to look back post-match, learn from it and look forward to the fourth round.' Indonesia were already guaranteed a place in the fourth round after beating China 1-0 in Jakarta last week. They were outclassed by a Japan team who booked their World Cup place with three games to spare and ended the third round with 30 goals from 10 matches. Kluivert was not helped by a first-half injury to forward Kevin Diks, whose replacement Yakob Sayuri was then substituted 15 minutes later after a clash of heads. Kluivert said Japan were too good for Indonesia but they had to 'admit this and carry on'. 'We tried our best but it wasn't enough,' he said. 'It was the quality of the players that Japan has in this team. We can talk a lot about it but that's the fact, that Japan was a size too big for us this evening.'
The Sun
21 hours ago
- The Sun
Kluivert tells Indonesia to learn from Japan thrashing
Patrick Kluivert told his wounded Indonesia side they must learn from their embarrassing 6-0 thrashing by Japan as they attempt to reach the World Cup for the first time as an independent country. Indonesia's dreams of appearing at their first finals since gaining independence in 1945 are still alive after they finished fourth in Asian qualifying Group C. They join Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Asian champions Qatar in October's fourth qualifying round, with the draw to be made next month. The winners of the two three-team groups will advance to next year's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Netherlands and Barcelona great Kluivert admitted that Group C winners Japan were 'a size too big' for his team in Osaka on Tuesday. 'We need to learn from this big defeat,' said the 48-year-old, who took over midway through the third qualifying round. 'We're very disappointed, of course, but we have to be prepared for the fourth round, and for me now the most important thing is to look back post-match, learn from it and look forward to the fourth round.' Indonesia were already guaranteed a place in the fourth round after beating China 1-0 in Jakarta last week. They were outclassed by a Japan team who booked their World Cup place with three games to spare and ended the third round with 30 goals from 10 matches. Kluivert was not helped by a first-half injury to forward Kevin Diks, whose replacement Yakob Sayuri was then substituted 15 minutes later after a clash of heads. Kluivert said Japan were too good for Indonesia but they had to 'admit this and carry on'. 'We tried our best but it wasn't enough,' he said. 'It was the quality of the players that Japan has in this team. We can talk a lot about it but that's the fact, that Japan was a size too big for us this evening.'
New Straits Times
a day ago
- New Straits Times
No panic, but England 'not good enough', says Kane
NOTTINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM: Captain Harry Kane has said that England must improve quickly if they are to challenge for next year's World Cup, following a 3-1 home defeat to Senegal in a friendly on Tuesday. A first-ever loss to African opposition has put England manager Thomas Tuchel under pressure, just four matches into his tenure. After labouring to a 1-0 win over minnows Andorra in World Cup qualifying on Saturday, Tuchel's 10 changes made little impact as Senegal emerged deserved winners in Nottingham, courtesy of goals from Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly. "Not good enough. We had moments, but things aren't clicking with or without the ball — we're not finding the right tempo," said Kane, who had opened the scoring with his 73rd international goal. "We've lost that aggressive nature we used to have." Former Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain boss Tuchel was appointed to take England a step further towards major tournament success after back-to-back runners-up finishes at the European Championship. Kane believes the team is in a transitional phase following Gareth Southgate's departure after Euro 2024, but stressed there is little time to get things right, with the World Cup just a year away. "We're not going to panic, but we know we need to be better," added the Bayern Munich striker. "There are new ideas, and new players coming into the squad who lack experience at international level. It's a mix of things, but no excuses. "We need to find our rhythm quickly — the World Cup will come around really fast, so every camp is crucial now." England are at least well placed to qualify, having won all three of their qualifiers so far against Albania, Latvia and Andorra.
