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Josh Gross
Poland World Cup Team Preview
Poland
FIFA Ranking: 26
Manager: Czeslaw Michniewicz
Federation: UEFA
Group: Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia
Odds to win World Cup: +20000, BetRivers
Odds to win Group C: +550, Caesars
Odds to advance in Group C: +100, Caesars
How did Poland qualify for the World Cup?
Is it fair to say Poland probably got a little lucky in their pursuit of qualifying for the World Cup? Poland finished second behind England but with their only wins coming against Andorra, Albania and San Marino. They then drew Russia in the playoff semifinal, who were then disqualified by FIFA after the war in Ukraine started. So Poland had a direct path to their playoff final against Sweden, and to their credit, dominated Sweden in a 2-0 win to qualify.
Who is Poland’s most important player?
Robert Lewandowski
Not much of a surprise here as Lewandowski remains one of the best strikers in the world, even at his age. Although he’s continued to score goals, his move to Barcelona probably hasn’t panned out as well as everyone had hoped, Lewandowski is capable of winning a match single handedly. Like Messi, this is very likely the last World Cup for Robert Lewandowski.
What are Poland’s strengths, weaknesses, style of play and form?
Poland is expected to play a 3-4-2-1 that will convert to a 5-2-2-1 at times. Poland is a defensive team that does not hold the ball well. They look to score by counter attacking and rely heavily on their star player, Robert Lewandowski, to score.
Poland’s greatest strength is the fact that Robert Lewandowski is Polish. This is a world class player who will likely end up the greatest Polish footballer of all time.
While Poland has really good talent across the team, Lewandowski is such a presence that it really hasn’t clicked much in international play. Their reliance on Lewandowski, and Lewandowski only to score goals is difficult to maintain against top competition. One could argue that their overall lack of defensive talent, forces them to be a more defensive focused team, which then impacts their talented offensive players that support Lewandowski such as Zielinski.
Poland beat Wales 2-1 and 1-0 in the Nations League and drew to Netherlands 2-2. That said, they lost 6-1 to Belgium, 1-0 to Belgium and 2-0 to Netherlands.
What is Poland World Cup Outlook?
Poland’s ceiling is advancing to the Round of 16. Assuming France wins their group, Poland’s reward for advancing out of the Group Stage is facing the defending champs. Group C has a giant in Argentina, a minnow in Saudi Arabia and two teams in Mexico and Poland likely fighting for that second spot. Their opening match against Mexico is far and away their most important match. If Poland are able to come away with three points, it will be hard for Mexico to catch them. I don’t think Poland will be able to make it out of the group stage though.
Best Poland World Cup Bet
No bet yet. Once US markets drop lines for teams to not advance, that is the line I will be looking at. Poland are overvalued to advance.
Poland World Cup Roster
Goalkeepers: Wojciech Szczesny, Bartlomiej Dragowski, Lukasz Skorupski
Defenders: Jan Bednarek, Kamil Glik, Robert Gumny, Artur Jedrzejczyk, Jakub Kiwior, Mateusz Wieteska, Bartosz Bereszynski, Matty Cash, Nicola Zalewski
Midfielders: Krystian Bielik, Przemyslaw Frankowski, Kamil Grosicki, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Jakub Kaminski, Michal Skoras, Damian Szymanski, Sebastian Szymanski, Piotr Zielinski, Szymon Zurkowski
Forwards: Robert Lewandowski, Arkadiusz Milik, Krzysztof Piatek, Karol Swiderski
Group A | Ecuador Senegal Netherlands Qatar
Group B | Iran Wales USA England
Group C | Mexico Saudi Arabia Poland Argentina
Group D | Tunisia Denmark Australia France
Group E | Japan Germany Costa Rica Spain
Group F | Croatia Morocco Canada Belgium
