Thirty-two years after Jan Tomaszewski was famously dismissed as a clown before thwarting England’s World Cup dream, his Polish heir Jerzy Dudek has his sights set on a repeat act.
In 1973, on a dramatic night at Wembley, Tomaszewski pulled off save after thrilling save to ensure Poland a 1-1 draw and a passage to the 1974 Finals.
The result cost England coach Alf Ramsay, the hero of 1966, his job as the Poles went on to finish third in the Finals in Germany.
Now Dudek, whose famous, deliberate clowning on an Istanbul goal line in May helped Liverpool claim the European Cup, finds himself in an eerily similar position.
Poland face Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men at Old Trafford next Wednesday also just needing a point to reach the 2006 World Cup Finals which are also being staged in Germany.
Like Tomaszewski, Dudek, who has over 50 caps for Poland, believes he has a reputation to restore.
“I have had criticism and it is never comfortable when that happens to you,” said Dudek who committed a series of high-profile blunders in his early Liverpool days before all was forgiven in Istanbul.
“You are always on your toes, small mistakes get blown out of all proportion and become big ones. But you learn to just play for yourself and what is the greatest club in the world – Liverpool. Then you hope you win.
“When I don’t feel pressure I can be the best in the world.”
The son of a Polish miner, Dudek has enjoyed the rewards denied to Tomaszewski.
The hero of the 1970s went on to be part of the Poland team who finished third in the 1974 where he saved two penalties in two different matches, the first goalkeeper in World Cup history to do so.
Tomaszewski then went on to win a silver medal with Poland at the 1976 Olympics, and also played in the 1978 World Cup.
His club career was mainly at Lodz, having been forbidden by Poland’s communist government to play abroad before the age of 30. Then he went to Beerschot in Belgium and then Hercules in Spain, before retiring in 1982 after winning 59 caps.
Dudek, meanwhile, was named in the Poland squad by coach Pawel Janas despite not having played for Liverpool this season after dislocating his elbow in a training ground incident in early August.
He is glad of all the chances which have come his way; when he was growing up, he was convinced he would follow his father down the coal mines rather than the gold mine of European football glory.
“My father spent 30 years working underground and I was ready to work down the pits as well,” said the 32-year-old keeper.
“When I was 17 and at school we used to have two days a week when we would go down the mines to prepare us to work there. Then when I had to decide if I wanted to spend my life working down the mines, the chairman of our local team came to me and said he had a place for me at his club.
“In life you are never sure what will happen, but even when I’m criticised for making a mistake I think about the coal mines, remembering things have gone very, very well for me.”
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