Beenhakker says Poles can bounce back for Euro 2008

New Poland coach Leo Beenhakker was confident his team would qualify for the European championship for the first time in 2008 despite their poor showing at the World Cup

Defeats by Ecuador and Germany sent the Poles home after the first round for the second successive World Cup and made them an outside bet to advance from a Euro 2008 qualifying group that includes Belgium, Serbia and World Cup semi-finalists Portugal.

After naming no new caps in his first squad for this month's friendly against Denmark, Beenhakker (right) said the Poles' performance in Germany was a blip.

"We just need to put this experience behind us, to think about today and tomorrow and not the World Cup," said the former Real Madrid and Ajax coach, whose Trinidad and Tobago side drew with Sweden and came within minutes of a similar shock against England in Germany.

"The thing that worries me is that there is a lot of negative here. Polish players need to know that they are no worse than the standard in western Europe. We showed with Trinidad and Tobago that the differences between teams in football are smaller than people think."

Underrated league

Since a golden era in the 1970s and 1980s, when Poland twice finished third in the World Cup, the country's domestic game has sunk into mediocrity, short of money and facilities.

It is eight years since a Polish side made it to the Champions League group stages but after watching the first weekend of the new season, Beenhakker said the domestic league was underrated and should steadily improve.

"How good is the Spanish, or Italian or English league without all the foreign talent they buy in?" he said.

"The Polish league is not much worse. There are things to do with organisation and financing but that will come. I was at Lech Poznan this weekend and what they are doing with the stadium there is great."

After hosting the European under-19 championships in the western city of Poznan last month, Poland has a joint bid with Ukraine on the short-list to host Euro 2012.

"They deserve it and I hope they get it," Beenhakker said. "It would be a great chance to improve infrastructure and take the game here forward."

Beenhakker on Wednesday recalled Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek and Wolves striker Tomasz Frankowski for the friendly on August 16, just two months after predecessor Pawel Janas raised a storm by dropping both players from his World Cup squad.

The Dutchman said he had his eye on several younger players in the Polish league, but said they would have to prove themselves in the first half of the league season.

"If a player can show me for 10 games that he is good enough, then we can talk," he said.

"I worked with Dudek for three years (at Feyenoord). I know that if he is in good shape he is good enough. If the others prove themselves they will get their chance."