Wojciech Szczęsny Retires: A Polish Fan's Perspective

hello and welcome back to the channel uh you might have heard by now the shocking news from yesterday afternoon VY Str at the age of 34 given an option to make more money than most of us will ever see in our lives in Saudi Arabia has decided to do The Honorable wise and not just Courageous by the standards of today's football but Courageous by the standards of him being a family man and having a wife and kids thing to retire from football with immediate effect um now V me my relationship with him is kind of symbolic because we were both born on April the 18th but he was born eight years before me uh I became an Arsenal fan whilst he was Arsenal's starting keeper uh and and also he was he was other than Robert levandowski you might say the main on Pitch figure of the Renaissance of the Polish national team he is the I think the only besides Robert the only polish International to play at six major tournaments year 2012 16 20 and 24 and World Cups in 2018 and 201 2 the only poll or even the only keeper of any nationality to ever save a Lionel Messi penalty in a World Cup against Argentina even though it was a two- loss but still we did go through to the LA to the last 16 and really just like Wayne Rooney has the picture of his overhead against City in his living room I think Vex should have that picture of the Messi SA in his living room because that will be his signature moment but of course he had hundreds of more than that at Arsenal at Roma at Juventus uh like you might say that at there wasn't a single moment in the past 12 or 13 years during which vious Str wasn't one of the 10 best goalkeepers in the world and like you might say 34 that he still would have had a few challenges remaining and at least one more major tournament but you might say that he is fulfilled as a footballer two fa cups with Arsenal three scos with Juventus uh two Italian cups um also um also his two years at Roma he was very popular with the fans and he was SZ top goalkeeper in 20177 Premier League Golden Glove in 2014 with Arsenal and and you might say that his story is a perfect footballing fairy tale in terms of someone who was born with all of the gifts that a that a goalkeeper can have of course his dad Machi himself a Poland International and the only man to ever win polish Le titles with four different clubs that's V wood Le W vov and Pon W and VCH in 2005 he was in lagas Academy at the same time as lo as Robert although L was sent home because Leia's sporting director and stuff thought he wasn't ready for the first team but vek did instead go to Arsenal's Academy and three years later on the final day of the Premier League season against Stoke he made his debut then he was on loan to brenford and everyone already knew that he's simply too good for the championship that even then at the age of 1920 he has Premier League material and he of course uh played more matches uh more wins and more memorable moments than any polish player in premier league has history and we didn't have that many to begin with and and then of course uh national team Euro 2012 sent off in the opener against Greece sh then saved the pr penalty and replaced them against Russia and czechia but even during the lean periods of the next Dozen Years when uh we couldn't buy a win and uh there was that much offensive power uh for the national team he he all he most often delivered and uh 2014 against Germany when we beat the world champions like that performance you might rate it right up there with Y Tomas shvy at Wembley in 73 U then uh Switzerland in 2016 the Euro L 16 he contributed in that penalty shootout with a save um then 2018 the World Cup opener against Sagal That tragic mistake for the 2-0 goal that wasn't really his fault but surely uh was brought up in his nightmares in the six years since U and U and that is and that is the thing that he is an omnipresent part of not just polish football but of global football in the past Dozen Years is uh a goalkeeper who Maybe started out a bit green uh made mistakes but then with his size at 6 foot five and the agility and and just and just right both communication with his Defenders and and just the skills and c and courage and cunning to make those spectacular saves he became a complete keeper um you might you might say well he didn't win the Champions but but then again is there anything right now that you might say that his career lacks and to begin with there aren't M many polish footballers who can say that they have retired with plenty of money and plenty of caps 84 of them the most by any keeper and also with recognition from just about everyone in the game and being on the cusp of at least being in the top two or three in their position in the world because but then again Poland is actually known for never having a shortage of good goalkeepers and sometimes great Keepers zund KLA who uh was in goal for the 72 olympic final a legend at Gord sa yeah Tomas shovi of course who then replaced him for the 73 qualifiers and then 74 at the World Cup saved the penalty against Sweden safe good Miller's penalty against West Germany in that semifinal uh and then youf wardrick I for one think that wardrick is still Poland's greatest ever keeper of won the Champions League with PTO and 87 kept go in throughout the 82 world cup when we also finished third U and uh and then into the 90s we had aradus quack uh on the 92 Olympic team that won Silva uh and and also Andre vosak the hero in 95 against France at the park the prin when he saved the penalty Adam mausk who played for Bayern lusen the turn of the century and almost won the Bundesliga who can forget good old Jersey bu already at fold one heck of one heck of sorry one heck of a keeper then signed by Liverpool by Gerard julier in 2001 and the tragedy of him being uh a 2002 World Cup uh when we lost twice and he was replaced for the third game by two U that that Champions League final against Milan in Istanbul was actually his last match as Liverpool's main keeper he was sent to the bench in the next season by Rafa benitz because they found someone someone else which coincidentally is what happened to him also at fold and then two years later he was iGo casas's uh replacement uh or rather bench warmer at Real Madrid and then free he wasn't even uh sent to the6 World Cup by Banas just like thas frankovsky and that effed up our entire campaign that year uh of course uh when talking about vek you can't uh forget his teammate at Arsenal W who uh at the beginning he was used by arson benger more often as the number one but but then kind of uh kind of you saw that VTech was more consistent and also simply by being younger he had more potential to go even higher it's it's a Pity that neither of them won a premier league medal with Arsenal but then again that's life 20 years in counting I'm an Arsenal fan too as I've mentioned uh and I've also mentioned wski who was for most of the past few years the number two to V Tech and go for Poland uh and uh and it's right now it's it will be hard to replace them because U we are in a transition mode polish football overall and the national team and also Juventus because of the fact that they wanted to sell them in the first place even though he's vertical does damage the sceta ch and apologies for uh slightly worse uh camera footage today but uh my laptop broke down so actually I'm using my mom's laptop and dad has a slightly worse camera but it's U so so that is that is the thing it's good for him we we should thank him and we should remember him as a great guy and surely with with his memorable quotes and The Gift of Gab and just having Marina the famous s Go's wife um it's kind of inevitable perhaps that within a year he'll be a top TV pundit and of course he he has a few million Instagram followers and they won't miss him uh and and the thing is that it is an end of an era uh for the Polish national team kind of because from that Old God that played of Euro 2012 only Le remains and he's 2 years old so so right now it's it's maybe sad but also we should we should be thankful and as I've said there is nothing that that he lacks resume wise and there's nothing that he lacks character wise what Johner has always been one of football's good guyss and this final decision to to uh be driven by his morals and and conscience and not go to Saudi when that won't really help your career anymore you'll just take blood money that might just be his finest save of them all thanks for watching like if you like this click subscribe if you really liked it tell all your friends I'll be back here soon and by the way in 30 minutes time Lincoln Park is reforming