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Boniek says he will quit if Poland miss Euro 2004

© Reuters 2002

WARSAW, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Poland coach Zbigniew Boniek said on Friday he will resign if his team fails to win or come second in their qualifying group for Euro 2004.

Boniek, 46, was appointed in July after Poland's poor showing in the FIFA World Cup" finals but, despite bringing in new faces, he has failed to lift the national team, who lost in Group Four qualifying to Latvia last weekend.

"If I fail to achieve first or second place in the group, I will quit. We will have to give a chance to someone else then. Maybe Boniek is a good coach, I believe he is, but I may be wrong," Boniek told Friday's Gazeta Wyborcza.

Boniek said he would have been ready to step down if Poland had lost Wednesday's friendly against New Zealand. A 2-0 win helped quieten critics baying for his head, at least until Poland's next friendly in November against Denmark.

Following the 1-0 defeat to Latvia, Poland are now third in their group, one point behind Hungary and Latvia, but ahead of Sweden.

Boniek also criticised Nigerian-born striker Emmanuel Olisadebe for missing national squad training only to turn out for his club, Panathinaikos, in the Greek league.

"Injuries seem incurable on Thursday, but he can play on Friday," Boniek said.

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