France vs Poland: France to nullify Lewandowski threat and progress
France will look to take one step closer towards successfully defending their World Cup title when they face Poland in the round of 16 on Sunday. This will be the second World Cup meeting between the two sides, and the first since the turn of the 21st century. The only prior meeting between these two teams at a World Cup was back in 1978, when Poland beat them 3-2 to clinch third place. Overall, however, France are unbeaten in their last seven meetings with Poland across all competitions, with their last loss taking place during a 1982 friendly.
Although they lost 1-0 to Tunisia in a match that Didier Deschamps initially had fielded a second-string side, it mattered little as two wins against Australia and Denmark were enough to see France through as group winners. Les Bleus are the first reigning champion to avoid the so-called “Winners Curse” that hit Italy, Spain, and Germany, and as such, as the first current World Cup title holders to get to the round of 16 since Brazil did so in 2006.
Meanwhile, Poland are entering unchartered territory, as this is their first knockout round appearance since 1986. They were outplayed and outclassed during their 2-0 loss to Argentina, and barely scraped through by the skin of their teeth. In fact, despite Mexico winning their final match 2-1 over Saudi Arabia, Poland still progressed simply because they had not picked up as many yellow cards during their group stage campaign. Painful and heartbreaking for Mexico and their fans, but football can be cruel at the worst of times.
That means that Robert Lewandowski, who scored his first ever World Cup goal during Poland’s 2-0 win over Saudi Arabia, will have another chance to test himself on this stage. The 34-year-old, who now plays his club football for Barcelona, cut a very frustrated figure as he was starved of service during his team’s loss to Argentina, and uncharacteristically fluffed his lines from 12 yards out against Mexico. So far, Poland have really struggled up front, with just five shots on target so far – three of those by Lewandowski – and as such they will need to improve drastically if they want to have an iota of chance at beating the reigning World Cup champions.
France, for their part, will be aiming to preserve a record that has seen them progress from the round of 16 in their last five World Cup appearances. Barring a surprising collapse, Les Bleus are expected to progress without much fuss – despite Lewandowski posing a threat up front – and look forward to facing either reigning AFCON champions Senegal or EURO 2020 finalists England in the quarter-finals.
