Legia stadium echoes to Wisla win

14th May 2010

© N3ph Brozek was enough to finish the game Share:

Wisla Krakow took another major step towards winning the Polish title last weekend with a crushing win over a hapless Legia Warszawa on ul. Lazienkowska. The three-nil scoreline was not an adequate reflection of the White Star’s dominance and only careless finishing stopped the Krakow team from running up a score in double figures.

From the off Legia looked listless and did little to impede Wisla’s progress, especially in midfield. After 16 minutes the Legia players allowed Malecki to do a passable impersonation of a dog chasing his tail before whipping in a lethal cross which Brozek gratefully nodded home while the opposing central defenders pretended they were lamp-posts.

In the middle of the half, the Warsaw side tried to rouse themselves and finally pressed Wisla back, but to no effect. It can’t help when one of the season’s marquee fixtures is attended by three men and a dog; the construction of the club’s new stadium leaving the stands echoing emptily and generating all the atmosphere of a training match. But as Miroslaw Szymkowiak, ex-Polish international, commented, “They’re professional players, the empty stadium is no excuse.”

Wisla finished the half stronger though, Junior Diaz going close after another nice diagonal pass from Malecki. Just before half-time Brozek beat the offside trap and bore down on the goal, but Mucha, Legia’s Slovak keeper who is expected to sign for Everton this summer, made a good save.

What he failed to do then, though, Brozek merely needed a couple of minutes to do at the beginning of the second half. A corner to the far post was looped back by the striker past a helpless Mucha.

Wisla continued to make the running and the chances, finally on 69 minutes just as Legia were about to make substitutions, Brozek was put through again and finished emphatically - game over.

After that it was merely a question of how many Wisla would score, but profligacy in front of goal and some good keeping from Mucha somehow managed to keep them out. In the 89th minute, the Legia striker Grzelak got what was surely his first touch of the game but lost control of the ball before getting his shot away.

Eight-nil wouldn’t have been an unfair score, only the young substitute Kosecki showing any heart for the side from the capital. Otherwise, Legia were simply awful; if they continue playing like this, the stadium will be just as empty even when it’s completed.