JAKARTA - Poland will start their journey at the Qatar 2022 World Cup with a Mexican meeting in the first match of Group C at Stadium 974, Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, November 23 in the morning WIB.
The Eagles will undergo the most prestigious competition this year with the aim of surpassing the group stage for the first time since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Their journey began with the first temporary stadium in World Cup history which was built from 974 recycled containers.
When the 1986 World Cup Mexico reached the knockout stages as the best third-team from Group F. At that time they finished behind Morocco who filled the top and England who filled second place.
After that, Poland's records seemed to stagnate in the group stage of the most prestigious event. They have always fallen on the first hurdles in each of their last three World Cup appearances in 2002, 2006 and 2018.
In the three editions they only won one game and lost twice during the group stage. It was the worst result after they managed to rank third in their respective competitions in the 1974 and 1982 editions.
To repeat history in Mexico, Poland must go through favorite opponents. Apart from Mexico, they will also face Argentina, which is one of the leading teams to win this year.
Poland came to Qatar with former Legia Warslaw Czech law coach Michniewicz. The tactician was the hero who led the Eagles to a 2-0 win against Sweden in the qualifying playoffs for a ticket to Doha.
In addition, Poland's hopes of performing well in this major tournament also depend heavily on their legendary striker Robert Lewandowski's performance. The Barcelona player still hasn't scored in the World Cup after missing three 2018 World Cup games.
Therefore, the 34-year-old came determined to improve his record against Mexico in the early hours of the morning. To qualify for the next round, he has to lead his country to finish in second place in the group's final standings.
On paper, Mexico is a fairly balanced opponent to score. If they can get a number, they just need to win against Saudi Arabia who are not seeded and make a surprise when they face Argentina later.
Meanwhile, Mexico will head for their eighth consecutive World Cup appearance this year. However, on the previous seven occasions they were always eliminated in the round of 16.
Their previous long journey in the competition was when they hosted in 1986. At that time they managed to reach the last eight before losing to West Germany.
Forecast of line-up for Mexico vs Poland:
Mexico (4-3-3): Shaksa; Sanchez, Montes, Moreno, Gallardo; Alvarez, Herrera, Guardado; Lozano, Martin, Vega
Poland (3-5-2): Szczesny; Bednarek, Glik, Kiwior; Bereszynski, Krychowiak, Zielinski, Szymanski, Zalewski; Snyderski, Lewandowski
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
