Andrzej BUNCOL | 1982-1983 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)

BUNCOL PES STATS | 1982-1983

Oriello Name: Andrzej Bernard Buncol Andrzej BUNCOL | 1982-1983 (Buncol in the centre) Nickname: Krupniok -- Kaszanka Clubs: Ruch Chorzów, Legia Warszawa, FC 08 Homburg, Bayer 04 Leverkusen Number: 13, 15 (1982, 1986 World Cup) Position: AMF*, CMF, SMF Nationality: Polish Date of Birth: September 21st, 1959 (age: 23) Era: 1982-1988 Foot: R Side: B Length: 174 cm Weight: 73 kg Attack: 77 Defence: 57 Balance: 78 Stamina: 85 Top Speed: 81 Acceleration: 86 Response: 81 Agility: 86 Dribble Accuracy: 86 Dribble Speed: 83 Short Pass Accuracy: 83 Short Pass Speed: 77 Long Pass Acc.: 81 Long Pass Speed: 82 Shot Accuracy: 77 Shot Power: 79 Shot Technique: 75 Free Kick Accuracy: 72 Curling: 73 Header: 76 Jump: 82 Technique: 86 Aggression: 81 Mentality: 76 Keeper Skills: 50 Team Work: 84 Injury Tolerance: B Condition/Fitness: 6 Weak Foot Accuracy: 7 Weak Foot frequency: 6 Consistency: 6 *Tactical Dribbling *Passing *Outside -- Talented Polish midfielder, his good sense of team movement and an eye for the odd killer pass allowed him to execute the role of constructing plays on the field with a high degree of success. Also dangerous on the dribble and full of running both in attack and defense, these facets gave any team fielding him a suprising bite on the pitch. In a long running cliche, as a youth he was told to forget having a career as a footballer due to his small physique... ..but his technical aspects overruled such a silly notion. Selected quotes from an interview with ''11Freunde''; link It was only at the age 27 you have opted for a foreign club. Why? ''The younger generations of today have it much easier. When I played football, it was at the time of Polish communism. It was naturally bitter for me, since the Football Association simply did not allow that a player under the age of 28 to move abroad. During the World Cup of 82 in Spain, I played all the games from the first until the last minute. We finished third, and after the tournament I had to turn down an offer from Juventus, because it was impossible to leave the league, I was only 23.'' However, you are left by 27 instead of 28 years. How did bypass the rules? ''In Poland, there was a state of emergency. The power was not the government but the military. It also had an impact on football. Thus there were a total of two military clubs in the country, which were sponsored by the military. One was in Wroclaw, the other in Warsaw. The military has exploited this situation and got me for two years at Legia Warsaw, as I still had not done military service. There, I then signed a contract for two years. When it later came to renew my contract, I said that I will only prolong, if I may leave the club abroad, after the World Cup of 86. Because they wanted to keep me, we were able to agree.'' If you could have chosen a club in Poland, it would then have been Legia Warsaw? ''No, I never wanted to go to Warsaw. Warsaw was the capital, where people wore their nose a little higher. I came from Silesia. There is a natural rivalry with Warsaw because they were in the capital of the opinion that they had something better. Maybe it was the mentality comparable with a change from Cologne to Dusseldorf.'' How was your time in Warsaw? ''For me it was the most important thing that I needed to afford a normal military service. Although I have received a military uniform, I hung it in the closet for two years. I could walk around as a civilian and move like any other football player - free. And the training was only in the mornings and afternoons. Otherwise, my time was freely available. If I had been forced to line up for normal military service, my football career might have been terminated. So in retrospect: Sure, I was in Warsaw, where I did not want to go, but at least I could practice my profession. This was very much worth it.'' After the World Cup 86, you then moved to FC 08 Homburg. Homburg instead of Turin! How did that come about? ''Before the World Cup, I was not sure whether Poland was strong enough to repeat a similar success as the third place at the World Cup of 82. Finally, we were in a strong group and could fail in the first round. And if you fall out in the preliminary round, then no interest for you as a player. No Turin, and no Homburg. So I had to think about whether I'm going to risk waiting for a contract at a big club or not? It was really clear that the National team was not as good as in 82, we had all grown older. Therefore, I have finally acted on the motto: The main thing is to just get abroad.'' And this motto led to switching to Homburg? ''At the World Cup in Mexico, we had prepared 10 days in Nuremberg. There, consultants came up to me, I thought long and did not sign the contract for Homburg, before we went to Mexico. I thought to myself: Homburg is indeed a small club, I can always go yet - but if I play well in Mexico... That was certainly the less risky option, but in the end I have done everything right. We [Poland] survived the first round with with difficulty, and were then in the last sixteen. And with Homburg, we are not relegated from the Bundesliga in the first year.'' New country, new language, new team. How did you handle it? It was not easy for me. At first I could hardly understand anything. But over time I have learnt more and more words. Meanwhile, the Brazilians had an interpreter at Bayer Leverkusen on the training ground. After a season Homburg you had switched to Leverkusen and had taken German citizenship, which was felt in the Polish public as a scandal. ''At Leverkusen we were five foreigners, Bum-Kun Cha, da Paixao Tita, Minas Hantzidis, Florian Hinterberger and myself. That was two too many, according to the rules there could only be three. Since my father was born in Germany, there was no problem to accept German citizenship.'' And the reactions were made violently. The Polish public saw it as a scandal. Were they able to understand it? ''No. They called me a traitor and hunted for me, as if I would have shot the president. I did not have my Polish passport reissued - if I had traded in the German passport I could have played still 50 more games for Poland. Nevertheless, I was pretty wiped away by the Polish press. But the problem was quite different: Antoni Piechniczek had left after 86 as coach after the World Cup and made room for Wojciech Lazarek. Who with his first official act declared for the first time that he renounced all foreign based players. Thereafter, the Polish national team played really bad. And because I did not play along, I was the scapegoat. That I did not play for Poland, does not lay on my German passport, but on the coach.'' How were you with the public reaction in Poland? ''I was not offended, but sad. In my eyes, I had done nothing wrong. There are hundreds of Poles who have made it as I do. But I knew I was a footballer, and then they had to slap on. That's what I felt at that time as very unfair. Eventually, the whole thing has became normal, but the first half year was hard.'' At Leverkusen with coach Erich Ribbeck, you had a manager who is not necessarily known for violent reactions. It is said that he was accustomed to civilized manners and a temper that would never have been raised. Anyone who says that has no idea. I know often enough how loud Ribbeck was. In the Uefa Cup when the first leg at Espanyol had been lost with 0:3. How did you get motivated after that? ''At the finale, I can not remember exactly. But in the first leg, we were very good, had two or three good chances, We had the game under control in fact. And it sounds totally bananas to finish losing 0:3, but that was it. During the return flight from Barcelona Ribbeck had taken a microphone and said: 'It is still not lost. We still have a return game in which we can turn the outcome'. Many people grinned on the plane, and the VIPs laughed at him. But I believed it, because we were the better team, even though we had lost 0-3.'' The return leg Erich Ribbeck and you were right. Why was Barcelona so broken? I had the feeling that Espanyol felt just too safe, with the thought in the back of their minds of 3-0, well the game was already gone. Who had gone onto the pitch with the attitude that nothing more can happen. And at first it looked like it. At halftime it was still 0-0. What were you thinking as you sat in the dressing room? ''We always had to go ahead and try everything. We needed the first goal, then we could take the crowd. And with the first goal, the stadium came to us, it was raging, then we had built up the necessary pressure, the 2:0 and 3:0 shot and the game turned into the penalty shoot-out - unbelievable.'' Your biggest success as a player? No, it was certainly a huge success. But my biggest success was the third place with Poland at the 82nd World Cup. I assume after the cup final Leverkusen celebrated... ''We celebrated three days. In the vicinity of the stadium in a great hall, was where we did all night partying. The next day, by motorcade through Leverkusen, a visit to the mayor and Friday from our training camp, where we prepared for the last Bundesliga match against Bayern. On Saturday before the game still were photos taken with the trophy and a bit of the usual fanfare, then it went off. I have to say that we were right in time to party, but somehow we did it during the game too, 3-0 we went ahead. We were so enthusiastic that we had played ourselves into a frenzy. At the end we still lost 3:4. But the main thing was that the fans have seen a good game. So we continued celebrations thereafter.'' Apparently during the final match with Espanyol, a commentator on German television even crowed with delight on the game and shouted of Buncol into the microphone: - ''The little Pole with a big heart makes miracles!'' Andrzej BUNCOL | 1982-1983 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)