World Cup preview: Poland
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Not since 2006 have Poland graced the World Cup with their presence, but they will arrive at Russia 2018 with many tipping them as dark horses to go far in the tournament.
With Robert Lewandowski leading the line, Poland have the tools to upset some of the more established World Cup powers and know that this may be their last chance to showcase arguably their greatest ever player on the biggest stage.
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It is 32 years since Poland managed to progress past the group stages of this competition, though, so they will need to defy recent history if the current crop are to emulate the likes of Zbigniew Boniek, Grzegorz Lato and Wladyslaw Zmuda.
Here, Sports Mole assesses Poland’s chances of success at Russia 2018.
GROUP
Poland will have been one of the happier nations with the World Cup draw, which placed them alongside Colombia, Japan and Senegal in Group H.
All four teams will have genuine hopes of reaching the knockout rounds, but Poland will go in as favourites to finish top of the pile – which could mean avoiding Belgium in the last 16.
If all goes as expected then Poland’s showdown with Colombia could be the key encounter to decide top spot, although Senegal and Japan may have something to say about that either side of that game.
POLAND FIXTURES
June 19: Poland vs. Senegal (4pm, Otkritie Arena, Moscow)
June 24: Poland vs. Colombia (7pm, Kazan Arena, Kazan)
June 28: Japan vs. Poland (3pm, Volgograd Arena, Volgograd)
HOW THEY QUALIFIED
Lewandowski was unsurprisingly the star of the show throughout qualifying, netting 16 of his side’s 28 goals to top the scoring charts above even Cristiano Ronaldo.
The first of those came from the penalty spot to give Poland a 2-0 lead in their opening game in Kazakhstan, although they went on to squander that lead and were held to a point by the team which eventually finished bottom of Group E.
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Five successive wins followed to put Poland in the driving seat, though, and they looked to be cruising to their place at Russia 2018 until their winning run came to an emphatic end when Denmark beat them 4-0 in Copenhagen.
Adam Nawalka‘s side were quick to respond again, though, with comfortable wins over Kazakhstan and Armenia leaving them three points clear of the Danes heading into the final round of fixtures.
Only a draw was needed against Montenegro in Warsaw, and it looked as though the match might be heading that way when the visitors came from two goals down in the final 15 minutes, only for Poland to score twice themselves even later and seal a 4-2 win.
RECENT FORM
In a side that is pretty reliant on its star man, Nawalka would have been happy to see Lewandowski maintain his stellar form in his side’s final pre-World Cup friendly against Lithuania on Tuesday, as the Bayern Munich hitman netted twice in his 45 minutes on the field.
The world’s 126th-ranked side offered little threat in the Warsaw friendly, with Poland running out comfortable 4-0 winners to make it two wins and a draw in their last three matches.
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Having previously lost 1-0 to Mexico and Nigeria, the White and Reds appear to be back on track and will fancy their hopes of progressing thanks to the form of Lewandowski.
A combined nine goals for the side in their last three outings also suggests that they will take their form from qualifying – 28 strikes in 10 matches – into the finals; their counter-attacking threat likely to prove key in tight matches.
SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Bartosz Bialkowski (Ipswich), Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea City), Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus).
Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Southampton), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria), Thiago Cionek (SPAL), Kamil Glik (Monaco), Artur Jedrzejczyk (Legia Warsaw), Michal Pazdan (Legia Warsaw), Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund).
Midfielders: Jakub Blaszczykowski (Wolfsburg), Jacek Goralski (Ludogorets Razgrad), Kamil Grosicki (Hull City), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Paris St-Germain), Rafal Kurzawa (Gornik Zabrze), Karol Linetty (Sampdoria), Slawomir Peszko (Lechnia Gdansk), Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiv Moscow), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli).
Forwards: Dawid Kownacki (Sampdoria), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Arkadiusz Milik (Napoli), Lukasz Teodorczyk (Anderlecht).
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