“I hope we will be able to build together a squad that is brave, ambitious and knows how to play football … so that the country is proud of its national team,” the former Portugal international told a news conference in Warsaw on Thursday.
Sousa was speaking after he was named as the new manager of the Polish national soccer team last Thursday to replace Jerzy Brzęczek.
That announcement by the chief of the national governing body for the sport came after Brzęczek unexpectedly lost his job as Poland boss at the start of last week.
Sousa, 50, is a Portuguese soccer manager and a former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. His credits as a coach include Leicester City, Italian side Fiorentina and France's Girondins Bordeaux.
Just two months before the start of World Cup qualifiers, he takes over a Poland team that is captained by star striker Robert Lewandowski, FIFA's world player of the year for 2020.
Sousa's assistants will be fellow Portuguese Manuel Júlio Cordeiro da Silva Pereira and Spaniard Víctor Manuel Sánchez Lladò.
Poland will in June face Slovakia, Spain and Sweden in the group stage of this year's European championships, a tournament rescheduled from last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The head of the Polish Football Association (PZPN), Zbigniew Boniek, told a virtual press conference last Thursday that the national team needed a new manager to put an end to "a sense of malaise" among players and ensure more quality ahead of the delayed Euro 2020 finals and qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Zbigniew Boniek, head of the Polish Football Association (PZPN), is seen on a screen during a virtual news conference on Jan. 21, 2021. Photo: PAP/Piotr Nowak
"The upcoming matches, both World Cup qualifiers and the Euro tournament, require that the squad steps up its game," Boniek told reporters at the time.
Boniek on January 18 thanked Brzęczek for his work with the national team in a statement.
Brzęczek was fired even though he in May last year agreed a contract extension to manage the Polish national football squad until at least the end of 2021.
The extension was announced after last year’s European championships were postponed until 2021.
The Polish team in 2019 celebrated advancing to the European tournament for the fourth time after a successful qualifying campaign.
Brzęczek, a former Poland captain, had taken over as Poland manager to replace Adam Nawałka in the summer of 2018 after the national squad's early World Cup exit disappointed fans.
Brzęczek, 49, had a professional career that spanned nearly 20 years and brought him 42 international caps as a midfielder with Poland.
He captained the national team when they won silver at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He later spent 12 years playing abroad from 1995 to 2007.
Prior to becoming Poland boss, he coached top-flight Polish side Wisła Płock.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP, pzpn.pl