Group D winners France will take on Group C runners-up Poland on matchday two of the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar. The French will be favourites, but without some of their star players injured, the Poles could worry them. Will Lewandowski’s goal machine wake up or will Deschamps’ men celebrate?
French manager Didier Deschamps, who was the first manager in this league to lead his team to the knockout stages of the World Cup in Qatar, was not afraid to make many line-up changes for the final group match of Les Bleus against Tunisia. But the substitutes didn’t make much use of their chance, they lost 0:1. Stars like Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembelé and Antoine Griezmann remained on the bench, which the Tunisians took full advantage of. Although Griezmann equalized in stoppage time, the VAR intervened after the final whistle for the Frenchman to be offside, and this situation led to a complaint being lodged with FIFA.
Even so, France remained in first place ahead of Australia. After the unsuccessful match against Tunisia, many names will surely return to the starting eleven, even goalkeeper Alphonse Aréola should be ready after the injury. Olivier Giroud will also aim for the international goalscoring record, now one goal away from overtaking Thierry Henry.
The 1998 and 2018 world champions qualified for three consecutive knockout stages for the first time and also became the first defending champions to advance from the group stage, a feat last accomplished by Brazil in 2006. The French have also managed to pass in each of their last five round of 16 at the world championships. However, after the defeat against Tunisia, he did not extend his winning streak on the biggest stage in the world, which thus stopped at number six. “With Tunisia we could have drawn, but in the end our goal was canceled. There is nothing we can do. However, we have achieved our goal and now the second competition begins, the knockout battles will show true strength of the teams”. said French national coach Didier Deschamps.
Despite the fact that the Poles lost to Argentina 0:2 in the last group match, thanks to the victory over Saudi Arabia and a draw with Mexico, they advanced from second place to the playoffs at the expense of their Central American juice. Szczesny saved Messi’s penalty to spoil some of the South Americans’ joy, but his effort was in vain when Alexis Mac Allister and Júlian Álvarez scored for La Albiceleste in the second half. Although the Poles took four points from their three Group C matches, a zero goal difference dropped them into second place ahead of Mexico, who conceded one goal more than they scored. Thus, the Polish national team secured a place in the top sixteen for the first time since 1986.
Coach Michniewicz’s side, however, did not arrive in Qatar in the best shooting form, having scored just five shots on target in this year’s championship, including three in the win against Saudi Arabia. He kept a clean sheet for a long time, but it was finally broken by Alexis Mac Allister in the 46th minute of the third match. “Reaching the round of 16 is a great achievement for us. It will be difficult against France, we’ll have to stay focused. I know it wasn’t our best performance against Argentina. But if we prepare better, if we can work to improve what we can’t it worked and if we give our all we will definitely have a chance” believes Barcelona scorer and biggest Polish star Robert Lewandowski.
It has been 40 years since Poland’s victory over France, which knocked them out of the 1982 World Cup. Their last meeting ended in 2011 in a friendly duel with Les Bleus which they won 1-0.
/i/1251113801.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "Switzerland considering banning electric vehicles, game consoles and streaming in the event of a power outage – IT Professional – News")
