Image via @FifaWorldCup on Twitter
Poland’s Qatar adventure came to a halt today as they were knocked out in their round of sixteen tie against France this afternoon, with a Kylian Mbappe brace sealing their fate.
It was a more confident Poland that we saw right from the off, with the formation often resembling a 4-3-3 that hadn’t been seen before in the tournament for Poland. This enabled the more attacking players a freedom we hadn’t seen before in Qatar, and despite frequent opportunities for France in the first half Wojciech Szczęsny managed to stand up to them very well.
Poland had opportunities themselves, retaining more possession than they had in previous matches and Robert Lewandowski, Matty Cash, Piotr Zieliński and Jakub Kamiński all having decent shots towards or on target to the French goal. There was a moment towards the end of the first half in particular when the ball was pulled back to Zieliński, who forced a smart save from Hugo Lloris before the follow up strikes from Zielu and Kamiński were blocked by French defenders.
Up the other end, with two minutes to go in the first half the deadlock was broken. Olivier Giroud managed to shake the marking of Jakub Kiwior to get in behind a sweep a ball past Szczęsny to become France’s all time leading goalscorer.
It was harsh on Poland, who had been playing their best football of the tournament up to that point and really looked capable of threatening themselves as there was panic in the French defence at several points in that first half.
France took more control in the second half and although the game did become far more end to end. Cash’s legs were fading up against Mbappe and the Villa right back was caught up the pitch as France countered. Mbappe had time and space to fire past Szczęsny at his near post and kill the game.
They was a little desire from Poland to get back into the match, but were largely kept at arm’s length by France, and the substitutions made by Czesław Michniewicz were largely absent from causing any impact. Mbappe scored a wonderful strike as the clock ticked into the 90th minute, and the scoreline was becoming even harsher on what had been a decent Polish performance.
Kamil Grosicki was determined to make up for this and had several impactful runs down the left wing in stoppage time, eventually winning a penalty from a VAR handball decision and a chance to get a consolation. Lewy’s first attempt was saved after Lloris came a yard off his line, and Poland’s record goalscorer had his second World Cup goal with the retake.
It was a display that showed with the handbrake off, Poland are capable of competing perfectly satisfactorily with the best international teams, at least for the most part. It’s difficult to see this tournament as anything other than Kamil Glik and Grzegorz Krychowiak’s international swansong, even though they were pretty good today. The biggest positive for Poland today should be that they were able to stay in the game with the reigning world champions up until the 74th minute.
Michniewicz might well have done enough to see his contract extended, but Lewandowski’s post match comments suggest not all is well. He was asked if he would continue playing for the national team if Poland qualify for the next World Cup, and I’ll echo the quote and the thoughts of Christopher Lash on Twitter:
There will be more articles this week detailing Poland’s display against France today, as well as pieces on their World Cup as a whole.
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