You're listening to the FootGlish podcast. Love
football, learn English. What exactly happened
between Robert Lewandowski and the Polish national
team? What is the similarity between Cristiano
Ronaldo and Lewandowski's situation? How much
longer can Lewandowski stay at the top level
of his game? And how do we use the verb to seem
in English? Ladies and gentlemen, this is Zdenek
speaking and you're listening to the Footgrish
podcast. Welcome back. And if this is your first
time listening to the Footgrish podcast, then
you should know that this is a podcast for English
learners who are also enthusiastic about football.
So if you're into football, then this is the
right place. And as always on the Footgrish podcast,
there is a guest. And this time it's none other
than Tomasz from Poland, a Polish fan of the
Polish national team and someone who is going
to tell us about a very, very famous Polish player.
Hi, Tomasz. Welcome to the FootGlish podcast.
Hi, Danek. Thank you for having me. I'm very
happy to be here again. It's a pleasure. Tell
us which player. am i referring to here well
unfortunately because we are going to speak about
the conflict and unfortunately you are speaking
about the best polish player of all times robert
levandowski which is a tragedy it's a tragedy
oh it's of all times and i think he will stay
the best player of all time really many years
yeah wow okay well so we we have We have been
watching him play for the last two decades, right?
And he has been the biggest standout player of
the Polish national team. As we know, he played
for massive clubs, Bayern Munich and now FC Barcelona.
And something has just been going on. Something
has just happened in the Polish national team.
Some sort of conflict, yeah? So he was out of
the team because the manager didn't fancy him,
right? Or something like that. What happened
exactly, Thomas? Well, there was a decision.
Nobody understands till now. We still don't know
why it happened and what was the motive and why
the coach, the manager, did it. So he just wanted
Lewandowski not to be a captain of this team
anymore. Ah, so he... Ah, you see, I didn't know.
So he took it from him. So he stripped him of
the armband. Wow. That was the only thing that
happened officially. We don't know what more
happened in this period of time. But the official
message that the coach gave to all the journalists,
to all that have been waited. for our last game
against Finland was Lewandowski will not be a
captain of our national team. Wait, wait, wait.
So that means he must have done something wrong,
right? This sounds like a punishment, right?
Well, it must have been this way, in my opinion.
But nobody heard about what it was. There are
some rumors. There were some players of the national
team. who didn't want him to be a captain anymore.
But they weren't the majority of the team, of
the national team. So the manager did something
that I think he doesn't understand himself till
now. Because it costed him a lot. It cost him
his job in the end. But first things first, let's
not skip ahead. Basically... We are talking,
we should say this, we are talking about the
biggest legend of the Polish national team and
someone who has been crucial to the Polish offense.
Because how many goals has he scored? Many, right?
Oh, we would have to check it. That's the number
of goals that nobody scored in the national team
before Lewandowski. He is way ahead of everybody.
He is a record holder. So in my mind, this seems
quite similar to the Ronaldo situation because
there have been some issues in the past as well,
right? Because I think some people don't want
to see him in that role anymore because Ronaldo
has the status of God in the Polish national
team. And it's mostly because of the fans as
well, because they absolutely adore him. And
even if he is slow, he doesn't defend. He still
keeps scoring goals. So on the one hand, some
people say, yeah, but he's taking someone else's
place, especially the younger players who are
very talented. The Portuguese team is amazing.
Maybe they should be playing instead of him.
But because it's Ronaldo, he has to play. Even
if he's now in Saudi Arabia and all that. Is
it similar with Lewandowski? Just like Ronaldo
for the... Team of Portugal, I think the influence
of Lewandowski, just like in the case of Ronaldo,
the influence on other players was always very
positive. So I have never seen this, what now
everybody's talking about, there were some situations
in which Lewandowski... didn't want to play with
the younger players. I have never seen it, I
have to say. Just like Ronaldo, he always had
respect of the youngsters and he always could
help. Of course, at times you can see Ronaldo
and Lewandowski a little bit disappointed when
the team on this particular day is not playing
well. They are maybe disappointed. You can see
it if you watch the game. this disappointment
of the legend that the rest doesn't do its job
okay that's and you can understand it but the
influence stays positive so i don't i don't think
it all of this mess let's let's call it this
way that happened was really was it was it really
necessary We don't even know the details. That's
the problem. It's all speculations, right? And
we are just speculating here. What happened?
What must have gone on that the situation came
to this, that he was stripped of the captaincy?
And then as a response to that, Lewandowski said
that he wouldn't play for the national team as
long as the... The coach at the time, he has
now resigned since, but that's breaking news,
basically. But he was the coach and he said he
wouldn't play under him. So that throws really
bad light on the team, right? And that's what
causes the disappointment, right? That is what
causes the disappointment of the Polish fans.
Because now we are disappointed mostly. Because
they didn't communicate enough, the manager,
with this legend, with this best player of all
times. They did not communicate prior to all
this situation. And they let it happen. And then
just like in ours, nowadays we have a problem
of social media. So the one said something in
the press conference. The other one has written
something on his Twitter or whatever it was,
Instagram, that you will not play. The other
one responded. Then in the next press conference,
they tried to bring to light some issues, some
details, which they couldn't find. We don't know
what to trust anymore because bad news travels
fast, as we say in English. And social media
is all about controversy because that feeds the
algorithms. So nobody knows what the hell is
going on, basically. But it looks to me like
it was some sort of clash of egos, I guess. Right?
Right. Definitely. Definitely. And if you want
to defend yourself in this situation, and in
this situation, the one in charge was the manager.
So he decided what he wanted to decide, and he
had a game to win. And he lost this game. So
he lost this game against Finland without Lewandowski.
It was the World Cup qualifier. Yeah, it was
a qualifier. Was it a home or away game? Yeah,
it was an away game. I think it was an away game.
Against Finland. Yeah, we lost in Finland. Lewandowski
wasn't nominated. you lost did did the players
play for the manager or did did they look like
they were not bothered well that's the that's
the greatest question of them all because many
people think that the team was divided and if
we are talking about team sports and you're working
with a divided team with a half that wants to
play for the manager and the half that wants
to play for the legend uh that is not there you
cannot win any game and finland used it wonderfully
they won two to one and now we have a problem
we have to play twice against holland we have
to play again at home against finland so it will
be tough and that's the biggest disappointment
because because i have to frankly we all thought
the World Cup 26 will be this last tournament
of Lewandowski, in which maybe he will show something
special, just like Ronaldo did in the last final
of the European Nations League. Or Messi did
in the World Cup. Yeah, that would be a nice
send -off, nice goodbye for him, right? And obviously
Polish fans would love that. And you are one
of those fans. From what I can see, you are really
clearly behind Lewandowski, right? You personally,
Tomas, you stand with Lewandowski in this conflict.
And I think it's 99 % of the Polish football
fans, of the fans of the Polish national team,
because we live this reality of having Lewandowski
in our team. just like you said almost two decades
and we cannot really imagine this this team without
him and many of players who play with him are
not anymore with the national team because they
got old simply and and he he is still somehow
biologically very young and is i want to ask
you about that so much because i know you are
a football fan but i i hope it's okay if i if
i uh tell my listeners but in your private life
you are actually a doctor you are a doctor you
work in germany as a as a doctor so that's right
how long can he be at the top level and is he
already losing his strength and speed at the
age of 36 what's what's happening to his body
right now we're looking at him no i think so
there are some studies now that are being published
about the biological age of this best and oldest
players and everybody now is is talking about
the age of Lewandowski like about 30 years biologically
30 years so i think he is he is on the edge he
is on the edge so this next next tournament would
probably be his last Wait a minute. He's 36.
Ronaldo is 40 or 41? Right. He's 40 already.
So he could do one more. If Ronaldo can do it,
so can Lewandowski, right? Theoretically, it's
possible. And you have to say he has a wonderful
career. And he is this kind of very healthy sportsman
that you don't really see a lot. didn't have
any major injuries, only like lately some injuries
that wasn't that bad. He managed also to play
in the second game against Inter Milan in this
last half -final, right? That was the semi -final.
Semi -final, right. Semi -final of the Champions
League. They lost on penalties, right? Yeah,
they lost on penalties. It was very... No, with
one goal. With one golden goal in the... Okay,
so it wasn't penalties. It wasn't penalties.
With one goal. With one last goal in the extra
time. They've lost the game and didn't get to
the final. Is he still a starter for Barcelona,
Lewandowski? Does he start every game or no?
Is he on the bench sometimes? Well, it depends.
In most games, he was in the starting 11. Okay.
So physically, he is not worse than the young
players. And of course, we don't have to talk
about his experience. He's seen it all. And he's
a leader as well, right? So he has leadership
qualities. That has to count for something as
well. And his inspiration and like a role model
for a lot of young footballers and people who
want to be like him. One day they want to achieve
something big. And this is so important. Extremely
important. If you have an icon, a football icon
like that, that's just... We cannot stress how
important this is. for your for your nation and
for for the for the team right for the and for
football in general in your country so i hope
everything works out in the end because now this
manager that he had a conflict with um has resigned
so so he has resigned after after that game against
finland yeah and now the polish national as the
polish football association is looking for a
new manager so Tomasz, would you be interested
in taking this job? It's free, I heard. Well,
I thought about maybe there was this concept
of two managers, for example, in the national
team of Denmark, like some years ago. So let's
try Polish Czech team. So I will take you with
me. Oh, can I be your assistant? I don't know.
Maybe we just do like co -trainers, something
that could work for us because you as an expert
with your English. Now everybody's talking about
we have to have a Polish coach once again. But
I don't think that the players really find it
this important to have a Polish coach. They want
to have someone who will unite them, someone
who will lead them to success. And I don't think
the nationality is important. So your candidacy
is still on. Yeah, I'm a teacher. I'm a teacher.
I'm not sure that... I'm a teacher, you are a
doctor, so maybe that would be just the first
time in football history that you would have
a duo of managers in such high positions that
don't have a training license. Let's try it.
This healthy, educative approach of a teacher
and a doctor for a national team. Get them in
the quarterfinal or semifinal. Let's try it.
If you are listening to this... polish football
association whoever to whom this may concern
then we are here for you and we want to save
the polish national team and i think the number
one thing we would do is to nominate robert lewandowski
back to the team right and as a captain on the
first day of our work forever forever for the
rest of football yeah that's that's the hope
of polish fans now that you will stay forever
with us we'll play forever we're captain forever
because we just we just had lots of beautiful
moments thanks to him of course yeah tomas i
could also talk to you on this podcast forever
about this topic and about the polish national
team about football in general because we love
football and it's so easy for us to talk about
it but i think it's time for us To say goodbye
for today. Thank you very much for telling us
about your national hero, Robert Lewandowski.
And all the best to you. Thank you once again
for having me. See you next time. Bye. Cheers.
Take care. Bye -bye. Welcome back to the Language
Corner. As always in this part of the show, I'm
going to teach you something because that's my
job. That's right, I'm an English teacher in
case you didn't know that. And today I would
like to take a look at the verb to seem, which
is quite a useful verb to know for all sorts
of reasons. I said, in my mind, this seems quite
similar to the Ronaldo situation. So I was comparing
the situation of... Lewandowski, Robert Lewandowski
in the national team, to the situation of Cristiano
Ronaldo in the Portuguese team. And I was saying
that these two situations seem quite similar.
Or this seems, third person singular, right?
This seems quite similar. If something seems
quite similar, it means... it appears to be quite
similar it looks like it's quite similar but
this verb is used to make something sound less
strong so imagine I said this is quite similar
that sounds stronger or if even without the word
quite even if I said this is similar then it
sounds like I'm stating a fact right Perhaps
I should have some evidence to back up my claim.
But if I say this seems quite similar, I am sort
of distancing myself from what I'm saying. I'm
making it sound less strong. I am what's called
in academic English hedging. I am hedging. So
obviously you can use this verb to seem to make
something sound less strong. For example, I could
say, this is a good podcast. The Footgrish podcast
is a really good podcast. That sounds very strong,
like a strong claim, right? So if I want to sound
less strong, I could say, this seems like a good
podcast. So you see how this is such a useful
verb. Now notice how we use the structure to
plus infinitive after the verb seem. The verb
seem is followed by... to infinitive with to.
Or it could be followed by also an adjective.
You can say, this seems great. This seems fun.
This, I don't know, this podcast seems fun. It
seems to be a good podcast. So either the infinitive
with to or adjective, those would be the two
most typical structures to use after the verb
to seem. All right, well, I hope you guys enjoyed
this language corner, which is the final part
of this podcast. And let me know what you think.
Yeah, I guess that's it from me for today. If
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Anyway. I've been Zdenek. Thank you very much
for listening or watching this episode. Take
care, everyone. Bye -bye.