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Poles seek to quell row over French-born duo

There have been rumblings in recent months about coach Franciszek Smuda's move to import a number of German and French-based players with connections to Poland into the national setup.

Perquis and Obraniak (pictured) were born in France and qualified to play for Poland through their grandparents.

"I've only learned about all this from you. I'm shocked and disgusted. I will say this once and that is it. I feel Polish and I like my team-mates," he said ahead of their Euro 2012 Group A opener against Greece on Friday.

Former Poland goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski, famous for denying England in World Cup qualifying at Wembley in 1973, said last month that he would not support a national side that contained "Germans and Frenchmen".

One Polish journalist at Tuesday's briefing called for Obraniak, who speaks only a handful of words in Polish, to sing a part of the national anthem.

"It is not important whether you speak Polish or not, if you have a Polish passport then you can play," said Dudka, who is now at Auxerre.

"I'm not surprised that he doesn't speak Polish yet. I know how hard it was for me for the first two years in France and I had the language around me daily - Ludovic has it even harder."

"I have the feeling that some [Polish] fans are for us, some are a bit against us. Hopefully, when it comes down to the game [on Friday], everyone will stand behind us."