It was 1985, May 30th. It had not been 24 hours since the scary night of "Heysel".
On June 29, with the final Juventus - Liverpool, the history of football closed a chapter of it forever! The protagonist in raising the first trophy of the Champions Cup for Juventus was the Polish Zbigniew Boniek, who achieved a penalty that was converted into a goal by Michel Platini.
Immediately after the match, during that ghastly European night with 40 victims, Boniek would depart on a charter flight to arrive in Tirana. Shortly after lunch, Poland would play in Tirana against Albania, the grand group final for the qualifyings of the 1986 Mexico World Cup. Either one, Poland would go to Mexico or Albania. The first match in Mielec, Poland was finished, 2-2! Boniek would score in "Qemal Stafa" the only goal for Poland in the 0-1 victory. Unfortunately for Albania, the dreams of participating in the World Cup in Mexico were cut short in the midst of that loss. Never before or after, the National Team has been so close to such a great success ...
Countdown all matches between Albania and Poland
27.05.2008 Friendly Albania - Poland 0-1 (Maciej Żurawski 3 ')
29.05.2005 Friendly Poland - Albania 1-0 (Maciej Żurawski 1 ')
15.11.1989 Qualifyings of the World Cup, Italy 1990 Albania - Poland 1-2
(Ryszard Tarasiewicz 45 'Jacek Ziober 83' / Sokol Kushta 63 ')
19.10.1988 Poland - Albania 1-0 (Krzysztof Warzycha 78 ')
30.05.1985 Qualifiers for the 1986 World Cup, Mexico Albania - Poland 0-1
(Zbigniew Boniek 24 ')
31.10.1984 Poland - Albania 2-2
(Włodzimierz Smolarek 23 ', Andrzej Pałasz 80' / 55 'Bedri Omuri, 75' Agustin Kola)
2.05.1971 Qualifyings of the European Championship, Belgium 1972
Albania - Poland 1-1 (Jan Banaś 7 '/ Medin Zhega 32')
14.10.1970 Poland - Albania 3-0
(Robert Gadocha 19 ', Włodzimierz Lubański 83', Zygfryd Szołtysik 90 ')
29.11.1953 Friendly Albania - Poland 2-0 (Loro Boriçi 9 ', Refik Resmja 35')
01.05.1950 Friendly Albania - Poland 0-0
... and here we are again in the same group with Poland. Even with England. We were in the same group with both of these teams as opponents during the qualifiers for the World Cup Italy 90. Back then it was different, completely different from the qualifiers of the two years 1984-1985. It was no longer the same National team as four years ago. Both the Polish and the English won in both round-trip matches.
Against the English, there is no room for much discussion. They are always the great team, one of the main contenders to win every event. They are England! From the clashes with them, little is left to remember. That unjustly canceled goal of Demollari and the debut at the age 17 of goalkeeper Blendi Nallbani on April 26, 1989, Rraklli's goal in the 1-3 loss in Tirana on March 28, 2001, a beautiful goal by Besart Berisha in the friendly loss to England second team, 1-3 in May 2007 and ... hey! Do you remember Pitkin ?! His movies, "The square peg” (Pitkini ushtar)", "A stich in time (Pitkini ne spital)", ... Pitkin like this and Pitkin like that ...? Well, regarding the match of March 28, 2001, in the full sense of the word we can also remember the arrival of Pitkin (Norman Wisdom) with the meaningful title "Pitkin in Tirana"!
Perhaps this is the most beautiful memory in all of the Albania vs England challenges!
8 March 1989 Albania - England 0-2 Qualifyings World Cup, 26 April 1989 England - Albania 5-0 , 28 March 2001 Albania - England 1-3, Qualifying’s World Cup 5 September 2001, England - Albania 2-0. May 27, 2007 England (B) - Albania 3-1 Friendly.
So Albania, today's national team, is a completely different level. Nowadays, football, everything is completely different. Are we hopeless? Maybe yes but, maybe not! Albania is a team that no one underestimates today. It is the national team with the newest stadium and one of the most modern in the Balkans and above all, it is the national team which every time it plays, brings with it half of the fans to the stadium, in every city in Europe! The players are of a satisfactory level and if they can be in the good moment, they can win against anyone. Portugal knows this well. Hope dies last and, if the miracle happens ... even if it is a dream, do not wake me from sleep!
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By Arian Muraj / translated to english by Pjerin B.
© Sport Vision & Champions Hour Dec. 8-2020
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