Poland have certified for his or her second World Cup in a row, offering a becoming stage as soon as extra for talisman Robert Lewandowski to exhibit his abilities. The 34-year-old lastly bought his likelihood to play within the world showpiece for the primary time 4 years in the past and, after a group-stage exit, will now get one other alternative at what is going to absolutely be his ultimate World Cup.
The Barcelona striker is already his nation’s all-time high scorer (with 76 objectives) and greatest-ever participant however failed to attain in any of their three matches again in 2018. If Poland are to emerge from a tough-looking Group C, then Lewandowski might want to hearth.
The Poles’ opening match in opposition to Mexico is about to be essential, with one of many pre-tournament favourites Argentina anticipated to win the group and Saudi Arabia anticipated to complete backside, which would depart a shoot-out for second spot between the Eagles and the Tricolor. If Poland can advance, they’ll play their first World Cup knockout recreation since 1986 – after they reached the final 16 – having exited within the group stage regardless of profitable a match in 2002, 2006 and 2018.
Paulo Sousa led them to second spot in Group I, behind England, in qualification however departed to handle Brazilian facet Flamengo final December. Ex-Legia Warsaw boss Czeslaw Michniewicz took the reins and, in simply his second match in cost, led them to a 2-0 play-off victory over Sweden to seal a spot in Qatar. Michniewicz’s job will now be to coalesce a squad that has a mix of skilled stars, journeymen and unproven kids right into a unit that may attain the knockouts.
Here is all the pieces you might want to know:
Group fixtures (all instances GMT)
Tuesday 22 November: Mexico vs Poland – 16:00
Saturday 26 November: Poland vs Saudi Arabia – 13:00
Wednesday 30 November: Poland vs Argentina – 19:00
Predicted squad
Goalkeepers: Wojciech Szczęsny (Juventus), Łukasz Skorupski (Bologna), Bartłomiej Drągowski (Spezia)
Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Aston Villa), Kamil Glik (Benevento), Tomasz Kędziora (Dynamo Kyiv), Bartosz Bereszyński (Sampdoria), Robert Gumny (Augsburg), Matty Cash (Aston Villa), Jakub Kiwior (Spezia), Arkadiusz Reca (Spezia), Nicola Zalewski (Roma)
Midfielders: Przemysław Frankowski (RC Lens), Jacek Góralski (VfL Bochum), Kamil Grosicki (Pogoń Szczecin), Jakub Kamiński (VfL Wolfsburg), Mateusz Klich (Leeds United), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Al-Shabab Riyadh), Karol Linetty (Torino FC), Sebastian Szymański (Feyenoord), Piotr Zieliński (Napoli), Szymon Żurkowski (Fiorentina)
Forwards: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona), Arkadiusz Milik (Juventus), Krzysztof Piątek (US Salernitana 1919), Karol Świderski (Charlotte FC)
Ones to observe
Star – Robert Lewandowski: Everything Poland do runs via their biggest participant of all-time, Lewandowski. He netted 9 instances in qualifying – a tally solely bettered in Europe by Harry Kane and Memphis Depay – whereas at membership degree he has settled in properly to life at Barcelona following his protracted summer season transfer from Bayern Munich. As captain, the remainder of the squad look to him for inspiration and his profession whole of greater than 600 objectives has only one major omission – a strike on the World Cup.
Breakout expertise – Nicola Zalewski: There is quite a lot of expertise within the Poland squad, with a younger star tougher to seek out however Nicola Zalewski may simply match the invoice. The 20-year-old has impressed at Roma over the previous 12 months, with Jose Mourinho tipping him for nice issues. Zalewski is snug at full-back, wing-back and in midfield – and has performed on each the left and the correct – with Tottenham and PSG mentioned to be fascinated about securing his companies. He was shortlisted for the 2022 European Golden Boy Award that acknowledges gamers beneath the age of 21 and his creativity might be an X-factor for Poland in Qatar.
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Prediction
Poland’s hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage may properly come all the way down to their opening match in opposition to Mexico – presuming Argentina high the group and Saudi Arabia show to be the whipping boys. The Mexicans are regulars within the World Cup spherical of 16, whereas the Poles want to get past the teams for the primary time since 1986, so whereas Lewandowski actually may encourage his nation to a well-known victory and subsequent qualification, they might properly fall simply quick as soon as extra. Knocked out within the group stage.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk