Jan. 3, 2003 – Revolution acquire Peter Nowak from Chicago Fire

Today in New England Soccer History

Jan. 3, 2003 – Revolution acquire Peter Nowak from Chicago in exchange for draft pick. Nowak, 38, retires before the season starts.

Here is my story for the Boston Globe. The Revolution had reached the 2002 MLS Cup final and were about to add Shalrie Joseph, Pat Noonan and Matt Reis for the ’03 season. Nowak seemed ready to go.

From 1/7/2003 edition of The Boston Globe:

Peter Nowak, acquired by the Revolution last week, is probably the most proficient and proven attacking player in the team’s history. But Nowak’s age, 38, and the knee injury that limited him to 16 games for Chicago last season raise questions about his continuing effectiveness.

But Nowak said yesterday he has recovered from a left knee ligament sprain and is eager to join the Revolution for training camp, starting Jan. 27 in Foxborough and continuing in Brazil in February. And coach Steve Nicol said he expects Nowak to be a full- time player in preparation for the CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament and the Revolution’s MLS opener April 12 in Chicago. The Revolution home opener is April 19 against Columbus.

“It’s the same knee I twisted four or five years ago, and how it happened didn’t have anything to do with my age,” Nowak said from his home in Naples, Fla. “With my speed I can still dominate against defenses in the midfield. It has nothing to do with age, it has to do only with motivation and with a winning mentality. You can look at other athletes, such as Michael Jordan. It depends on how they take care of themselves and I take good care of myself.”

The Fire, who traded Nowak for a 2004 conditional draft pick in order to comply with MLS salary cap restrictions, are transforming. Coach Bob Bradley departed for the MetroStars and midfielder Dema Kovalenko went to D.C. United. Chicago had its worst season since joining the MLS in 1998 last year, qualifying for the playoffs in the final game after playing a season in difficult circumstances on a makeshift home field in Naperville, Ill.

Nowak, born in Pabianice, Poland, had been the driving force behind the Fire’s success, including the ’98 MLS Cup championship and the ’98 and 2000 US Open Cup titles. He and fellow Poles Roman Kosecki and Jerzy Podbrozny, plus Czech Lubos Kubik and Hristo Stoitchkov, seemed a perfect fit for Chicago.

“The Polish community in Chicago supported me but there are Polish communities all over the country,” Nowak said. “Some guys in Connecticut already contacted me. But it doesn’t matter where you play but how you play.

“This is a new challenge for me. I have played in a lot of places – Turkey, Switzerland, Germany – I have moved around a lot and it doesn’t have an effect on my game. I want to help this club accomplish its mission. I bring my mentality to the team, I push guys to their limits. I care about today and I don’t like people who say we lost today but we will be better tomorrow.

“The Boston area has great fans. I have been very impressed with the fans for the Revolution, and also for the Patriots, Celtics. We didn’t expect New England to be in the playoffs last year but they changed their mentality and deserved to be in the final. They have a lot of guys who can score goals, and this makes a team better when there are a lot of guys who can decide the game.”

Nowak scored 29 goals in 134 regular-season and playoff games for Chicago. In 116 Bundesliga games for three German clubs, Nowak had 17 goals. Nowak signed with WLOK Pabianice at 15, then moved to Zawisza Bydogoszck and Widzew Lodz in Poland. Nowak joined Bakirkoyspor in Turkey in 1990, went to Young Boys Berne in Switzerland in 1992-93, then to Dynamo Dresden, Kaiserslautern, and TSV 1860 Munich.

“He brings a ton of things to the table,” Nicol said. “He controls the game, he gives a team a different dimension. And he can pass that on to the rest of the players. He is just a plus for us.”

Asked about Nowak’s age, Nicol replied:

“I don’t question that he can do it. He can adapt to what’s going on. He can do a whole list of things. Everyone knows him as an attacking midfielder but there is more to his game than that – he can attack and defend. We haven’t brought him on with the premise of changing everything to him. He can obviously play, and he has the ability to adjust to whatever role suits our team best.”

Nowak played 23 times for Poland’s national team, making his first trip to the US for a 3-1 loss in Hershey, Pa., in 1990. Nowak’s generation failed to equal the accomplishments of the excellent Poland teams of the ’70s and early ’80s, and the country’s soccer fortunes were only briefly revived in the 2002 World Cup.

“I was very proud of Poland in that game,” he said. “They used a lot of players who wanted a chance to show something, and the US was pretty sure of going to the second round. They scored twice in the first minutes of the game, or else it might have been a different story. The US is developing four or five players for the national team every year and I am very impressed with what the league has done.”

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