A crucial match against Argentina in the World Cup is a great opportunity to find out the Polish clichés about pessimism, and Krakow is not a bad place for that.
Ten years ago I covered the Euro 2012 games held in Poland and Ukraine, and I asked a person in the organization system how come Krakow was not chosen as one of the hosts?
Countries try to present themselves in a positive light by international tournaments, and you will really have a hard time finding nicer cities in the entire continent of Europe.
"It's better not to expose the world to Krakow football," the man replied, and the reason was hooliganism that was horrifying even in the horrifying terms of Polish hooliganism.
Hooliganism is scary because it is not necessarily related to alcohol.
On the contrary, there are groups of hooligans who abstain from alcohol and drugs, engage in martial arts to be ready for the weekend fights.
And there are no battles more consistent than the Holy War between Vistula and Cracow.
Krakow.
A wonderful city, photo: Ronen Durfan
You will be surprised - the Jews are guilty of this too
Ludwig Gintel, a Jewish football player from Cracow, declared a holy war against Wisla Cracow during one of the derby matches of the 1920s.
He took the concept from the great Jewish derby between the Zionist Maccabi and the Bundist Yurtzenka in which he played.
Gintel survived the holocaust, but outside the new Kraków stadium is the statue of a teammate and national team who did not survive it - Josef Klotz, the scorer of Poland's first ever goal.
But now to the study of Polish pessimism.
Full disclosure: I have also talked to many optimistic Poles but they are boring.
Let's focus on what they are good at.
Maybe even the pessimists know a little better English.
"You have perhaps the best striker in the world in the last five years", I try to inspire some optimism in a fan named Mark in a local bar.
"And who do you think should give him the balls?", you get a question that is a Polish answer on the spot.
And so you get a spectacular picture of football.
Thousands gather in pubs to watch the national team without special expectations, non-believers sons of non-believers.
A people who are not afraid of a road that goes nowhere.
"This is the best performance by a goalkeeper in the World Cup that I have seen in many, many years", I summarize the wonderful first half of Wojciech Szczecin.
The Juventus goalkeeper seals a series of magnificent saves by saving Messi's own penalty.
Such comments don't even dent the armor of local pessimism, and the bartender's smiling answer is: "Of course, Polish defenses always produce good goalkeepers."
Pessimism is what they are.
The fans in a bar in Krakow, photo: Ronen Durfan
But above them all is Pavel - a typical kind of city fool, who is busy at the start of the game complaining that football fills up his neighborhood bar and you can't let people drink in peace.
FIFA established a tie breaker of the fairness table in case of equality between the national teams, and in an indistinct way Poland is not beaten by this but rather by Mexico.
Although it should be noted that it is good that there is some kind of tiebreaker, it could also be the age of the coach's cat, because it forces one of the teams to commit suicide for another goal.
"It's a stupid method," says Pavel precisely in the dramatic moments when Florianska Street and the bars in it stop their breath, and even a little bit their drinking.
"It's fairer to kick penalties the next morning somewhere," he suggests.
That's what the Poles are really busy with at about the 94:30 minute - when Saudi Arabia scores and the equalizer dies.
The pub is buzzing when the bartender reassures them: "Idiots, the Saudi goal doesn't matter. Mexico still goes up with a goal."
The truth is he is right.
Just because you're a pessimist doesn't mean the world won't come crashing down on you.
But Poland survives, Pavel declares: "This is a great reason to drink a little more vodka" - although "a little" is not a good description of things.
And only regret that the pub will be full again for the game against France.
Here he is rather optimistic: "France will end this farce of the Polish national team".
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