Images via @FifaWorldCup on Twitter
It was an action packed game as Piotr Zieliński and Robert Lewandowski scored the goals to take Poland to within a point of the Round of 16, but there was plenty of work for Wojciech Szczęsny to do to keep the ball out of the net.
An extremely partisan crowd inside the Education City Stadium was hoping that Saudi Arabia would be the first team at this World Cup to clinch a place in the knockout rounds, and it has to be said there was plenty of times in the match when the Green Falcons had the upper hand.
The early moments of the game were particularly worrying for those of us supporting Poland, with three yellow cards being picked up in quick succession and Matty Cash lucky not to have received a second yellow for a flailing elbow in an aerial challenge. There was a fair bit of gamesmanship throughout from Saudi Arabia, and unfortunately the Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio was more than willing to fall for it, and combined with the atmosphere in the stadium led to some fairly strange decisions from the referee about what was and was not a foul or a booking.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, Poland had their breakthrough. Cash lofted the ball forward to Frankowski down the right, who did well to control before feeding the ball back to Cash on the overlap. The ball was fired into Lewy, who took the ball around the keeper and smartly cut the ball back to Zieliński who smashed the ball into the roof of the net. It was a first World Cup goal for both Zielu and a first goal at this tournament for Poland.
The joy was short-lived, as a relatively soft penalty was given in favour of Saudi Arabia as Krystian Bielik brushed the calf of Saleh Al-Shehri. The resulting penalty was well-saved by Wojtek Szczęsny (who was potentially off his line by a few millimetres), and he sprung back up to produce an amazing save with one hand from the follow-up effort.
The second half saw Saudi Arabia push even harder to equalise, with several hearts-in-mouths moments that led to Szczęsny having to produce smart, sensible saves on a number of occasions.
Poland had their chances too, with Arek Milik and Lewandowski hitting the bar and the post respectively as the introduction of Jakub Kamiński made the side harder to break down and gave a real injection of pace on the counter, with him on the right and Przemek Frankowski on the left.
It was an end-to-end game in the second half, and you could sense there was a second goal in the contest. Fortunately, it was scored by Poland. Abdulelah Al Malki was hesitant in possession on the edge of his own box, and Lewy stole in to steal the ball and roll his finish underneath the onrushing Saudi goalkeeper. An evidently emotional moment for Lewandowski, who was buried under a pile of his teammates in celebration for breaking his World Cup duck.
From that moment onwards Poland managed the game out, with Lewandowski coming close once again as he weaved past defenders before his chipped effort was stopped by the goalkeeper’s outstretched hand, and another opportunity being halted as the referee saw the need to check on a minor injury to a Saudi player.
This result leaves Poland needing just a point to qualify from Group C when they play Argentina on Wednesday night, with the opportunity for the Biało-Czerwoni to reach the knockouts for the first time in 36 years.
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