Alexander Krakowiak is a Polish Youth International who had been a part of the Toronto FC academy from a very young age, where he captained their youth teams on multiple occasions.

Alex will be starting the next season at the JMU Men’s Soccer Team.

Here, Alex talks about representing Poland at youth level and his future ambitions among other things.

What made you take up football as a sport? Are there any particular coaches whom you would like to recall who have played an important role in your development so far?

”I believe that being born in Spain; I was brought into the footballing culture from a very young age.
I’ve been playing my entire life and it is something that will stick with me forever.
Through football I’ve been very lucky to have met many incredible players and coaches.
Entering the Toronto FC academy from a young age, I had one very wise coach who made me grow not only as a player on the pitch but made me grow into a young man off the pitch.
As he now is in a deserved position as a technical director of the academy, Anthony Capotosto had a very significant role in my career while being my coach.
Giving me lots of freedom as a player, he allowed me to develop tremendously while really fine-tuning a lot of key pieces that would push me to the next level.”

Growing up, who were your idols in the footballing world?

“I’ve had a few idols over the years.
Coming from a Spanish background I was very blessed to grow up watching the 2010 Spain team who dominated for many years.
Xavi Hernandez is my biggest idol and a player who has had the greatest impact on my career. I love his simple and composed style of play that was so effective.
Now, I find that there aren’t too many players that play like him, but a very talented player who I look up to is Frenkie De Jong.
Although I’m not much of a Barcelona fan, I have great respect for his quality.”

I can imagine that in your position as a defender, you would have come up against some really talented attackers in your career so far, are there any particular opponents that come to mind against whom you had a hard time?

“For sure, in my career I’ve played against some very high-level teams that had some incredible talent.
With Toronto FC, we matched up against Arsenal in Dallas Cup and a very quick and lethal attacker was Folarin Balogun.
Another player who comes to mind while playing against Portugal was Umaro Embaló. He was very tricky and caused lots of problems all over the pitch.
Of course, I never give any opponent too much respect, but these players are performing at very high level and I wish them all the best in their careers.”

Folarin Balogun via Arsenal FC/Getty Images

You've had the honour of representing Poland at Youth level, what is it about wearing the national team jersey that you think makes it so special?

“It was a very life changing moment to make my national team debut with such an incredible nation like Poland.
I think that coming from Canada myself, I see that a large number of players tend to limit themselves on what they can achieve and I feel that with my accomplishments so far I can show younger footballers from North America they should be ambitious.
Poland gave me a chance when I was 17 and I made the most of it to be where I am now.
It is always special to play football and put any kit on but it’s a very different feeling when you represent your country.
These are memories I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”

Alexander Krakowiak-Castro (Number 8) Via Facebook @WellingtonSoccerAcademy

Amidst the ongoing pandemic, is there anything particular that you have done to stay fit and in shape?

”I was very fortunate to not allow myself to lose much motivation during these tough times. I was training even harder than before.
As things started to slow down with the pandemic, I began to train with a solid group of guys every morning in which we would play high intensity games and keep our match fitness with conditioning.
I understood that although future plans were changing consistently, I needed to stay sharp for when things resume.”

Are there any short-term goals that you have set for yourself for the coming season?

“Absolutely, my biggest goal right now is to perform at a very high level in my first season for JMU.
Along with that, I’m always training very hard to be called back to the Polish national team and looking forward to any opportunities that may be coming in the near future.”

Six Questions: Alexander Krakowiak formerly of Toronto FC