JAKARTA - The favorite defending champions France won the duel against Poland in the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup at the Al Thumama Stadium, but Poland, who beat France in the race for third place at the 1982 World Cup, was not an easy opponent.
France qualified for the last 16 after winning Group D despite a 0-1 fall at the hands of Tunisia in the final group stage match, while Poland qualified for this round for the first time in 36 years despite Argentina's 0-2 defeat in the final Group C match.
Poland coach Czechlaw Michniewicz dismissed his team's criticism of playing too defensively, saying his approach had instead led them to the round of 16.
"December fourth is a holiday for miners in Poland, for that we will do our best to celebrate that big day. We are not afraid of France, we respect them, we respect their class. But we don't care about people's opinions about our team," Michniewicz said as quoted by Antara via Reuters.
"Football is about winning trophies and becoming a success, especially in the World Cup. You can't let your opponents score easily. We defended well and in return we will fight France," continued Michniewicz.
Michniewicz believes Poland will become the "next world champion" if they can beat France. He admitted that he had analyzed how Tunisia defeated France, and how France defeated Australia and Denmark.
Michniewicz admits he has not found a weak point in France but did not think Poland would lift the suitcase earlier than this tournament.
France pays more attention to one factor, namely Robert Lewandowski, even though they know Poland is not just a big striker.
Lewandowski is indeed a lethal weapon up front, but Poland is a very compact team that has other main assets, namely goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny who twice saved the penalty.
Throughout his career, Szczesny has saved 26 of 87 penalties. He will be France's biggest defender if this match continues on penalties.
"They defended very well. But they weren't just a defensive team, just look at who they have in front," said French coach Didier Deschamps.
"There is more. They have other backbones that have great international experience in Kamil Glik, Piotr Zieli pathski, Grzegorz Krychowiak and some young players who have shown that they are capable of carrying out their duties," continued Deschamps.
France has no reason not to be too afraid of the Polish attack team, which in three group stage games has only fired five shots on target. But it would be very dangerous if the shooter on target Lewandowski was known to be able to maximize the slightest chance.
Therefore, the way France beat Poland is also how they killed Lewandowski, and scored as quickly as possible and kept the lead as long as it could be because the stakes were expensive if the game continued with a penalty shootout that French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris didn't like but was liked by goalkeeper Szczesny.
Predictions of the first eleven players
France (4-2-3-1): Hugo Lloris; Jules Kunde, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez; Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe; Olivier Giroud
Poland (4-4-2): Wojciech Szczesny; mediate Cash, Kamil Glik, Jakub Kiwior, Bartosz Bereszynski; Przemysâbiasa Frankowski, Krystian Bielik, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Piotr Zielinski; Robert Lewandowski, Arkadiusz Milik
Important statistics and head to head
It was a meeting between the two countries in the World Cup after the match for third place in the 1982 World Cup won by Poland.
In his last two meetings in the Euro 1996 qualification, the two countries ended in a draw.
France became the defending champion of the first World Cup to reach the knockout round since Brazil at the 2006 World Cup.
France is unbeaten in the last seven meetings with Poland in all competitions, while France's last defeat to Poland came in a friendly match in 1982 (0-4).
Poland qualified from the World Cup group stage for the first time since 1986 when they lost 0-4 to Brazil in the last 16.
Wojciech Szczesny became the third goalkeeper to ward off two World Cup penalties after United States goalkeeper Brad Friedel at the 2002 World Cup and Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski at the 1974 World Cup.
When they lost 0-2 to Argentina in the second match, Poland conceded for the first time in the 2022 World Cup.
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