2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar Match 10 - POLAND 🇵🇱

🇵🇱 POLAND (10 of 32)

26 November 2022 Match 10: Poland 2:0 Saudi Arabia
📍 Pope John Paul II Polish Center, Yorba Linda

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<--- MATCH 9: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ENG v USA 🇺🇸  |  HOME/MAP  |  MATCH 11: 🇫🇷 FRA v DEN 🇩🇰 --->

The Polish community of Los Angeles and Orange Counties has been one of the particularly difficult groups to track down for the World Cup. Restaurants like Polka and Solidarity had no plans for any of Poland's matches, and neither did some of the social groups that have an online presence. But with fingers crossed on both hands, a shot in the dark (literally, since it was 04:00) was taken to drive down to Yorba Linda and see if anyone from the Polish Center had made plans to get together at their social club.

From visiting the harvest festival in September, it was clear that the Polish church and community center here on the grounds had a strong community of older folks with even stronger ties back to the homeland. Pulling up to the parking lot, seeing the gate half-open, and a dozen or so cars parked was enough to cause a rush of excitement. Finally.

On the outside of the community center's door, hand-written signs announced a private event in Polish and English, probably to cover any liability on off hours. Opening the door revealed a dim room with 15 men seated around a television, all too intensely focused on the match to notice someone new to their club had just joined the party.

The TV was of course tuned to the Polish broadcast of the match, and similarly not a word of English was spoken in the room until the intruder was noticed and welcomed. Coolers full of beer (Zywiec and Warka) on ice had been brought from home and the center also provided some, only asking for a modest donation of $2. A few sweets were laid out and the coffee pot was hot.

When Polish fans in Qatar were shown on TV, the group in the center cheered, especially for the ones doing Qatari cosplay. That definitely seems to be a theme of the fans from most of the 31 other nations involved. Even larger cheers came when Lewandowski finally scored his first World Cup goal, the second of the match for Poland which looked to seal the deal.

As time ran out and some Saudi fans were shown on TV looking miserable, the crew broke into what must be the Polish equivalent of Cielito Lindo and its lyrics "canta y no llores." There may or may not have been spicier words in their song though, as they laughed devilishly the whole time while singing. After the final whistle, some got up and moved to the kitchen and a big breakfast was started. A proper celebration requires a proper feast. The fun thing about the 05:00 matches is that they start in complete darkness and the sun is shining brightly when they end.

Qatari cosplay is an ongoing theme of many fans.

Previous article from 2022 featuring the Polish Center Harvest Festival

Previous/other articles featuring cuisine of Poland:

Borsh Deli, Los Alamitos (tangentially)

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<--- MATCH 9: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ENG v USA 🇺🇸  |  HOME/MAP  |  MATCH 11: 🇫🇷 FRA v DEN 🇩🇰 --->

 

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