After a 36-year absence, Poland returned to the FIFA World Cup™ in 1974 and promptly made up for lost time.
Their run to a third-place finish – which remains their joint-best result at the tournament – included stunning victories over global powerhouses Argentina, Italy and Brazil.
Perhaps less celebrated was their trouncing of Haiti in the opening group phase. Poland boasted an outstanding cohort of attackers, and the World Cup debutants found them impossible to contain. Andrzej Szarmach netted a hat-trick and Grzegorz Lato, who went on to win the adidas Golden Boot, scored twice as the Poles romped to a 7-0 win.
It was another of their formidable forwards, however, who set a World Cup record that night at Munich’s Olimpiastadion. Legia Warsaw star Robert Gadocha was the architect of Poland’s triumph, laying on four of his team’s goals. No player before or since has racked up as many assists in a single game at the global finals.
After Lato gave Poland a 17th-minute lead, Gadocha almost immediately set up their second goal. His outswinging corner was headed home by captain Kazimierz Deyna, and the 28-year-old claimed his second assist when a similarly devilish delivery was converted by Szarmach.
Poland’s fourth goal of the match was one of the most spectacular of the tournament. Awarded a free-kick 30 yards from goal, Gadocha teed up Jerzy Gorgon, whose thunderbolt crashed in off inside of the post.
Poland’s creator-in-chief wasn’t done yet. The Haitians had no answer to his swerving, dipping corners, and Szarmach rose high to head in another inviting ball as Poland ran riot.
Godocha had a record-setting fourth assist in one game – a remarkable tally that has remained unsurpassed on the greatest stage of them all.
