Poland World Cup 2018
A Robert Lewandowski inspired Poland came through their qualifying group with relative ease and will be looking to make an impact at this World Cup, having failed to qualify since 2006.
History at the World Cup
Poland have appeared at seven World Cup finals tournaments, finishing in third place in both 1974 and 1982. Over recent years, they have struggled to even qualify and haven’t performed well when they have. Since reaching the last 16 in 1986, they have qualified for just two finals tournaments, in 2002 and 2006. On both occasions, they were knocked out at the group stage. This is a poor record and one that hangs over them like a nasty cloud.
- World Cup Finals Appearances – 7
- Previous Best Performance – Third Place (twice)
How they qualified
Poland came through Group E of UEFA qualifying, topping a group containing Romania, Denmark, Montenegro, Armenia, and Kazakhstan. Robert Lewandowski netted sixteen of their twenty-eight goals as they won eight, drew one, and lost one to finish five points above second-placed Denmark. Their only defeat came in Denmark, when they were on the wrong side of a 4-0 scoreline, and the draw in their stats was in their opener away at Kazakhstan.
Coach/Manager
The Polish national team are led by Adam Nawalka, who as a player was named in the 1978 World Cup team of the tournament.
He became head coach of the national team in 2013 and helped rebuild the team.
His greatest achievement so far has been to lead Poland to the Quarter Final of Euro 2016, and he will be hoping to take them far in this World Cup.
Star Players
When it comes to star players, Poland have one of the biggest in striker Robert Lewandowski.
The Bayern Munich star is the all-time leading goal scorer for Poland, and has been named Polish player of the year six times. He has already netted over twenty goals for Bayern this season, after scoring forty-three last term, and forty-two the season before that.
Basically, Lewandowski is a goal machine who has the quality to score against any team in the world. If he is playing to the best of his ability, he gives Poland a chance of beating anyone.
It takes more than one player to make a team though, and Lewandowski has a decent supporting cast behind him. These include Jakub Blaszczykowski, of Wolfsburg, and Napoli’s Arkadiusz Milik.
Poland World Cup 2018: Assessing Their Chances & Odds
Poland are currently ranked seventh in the world by FIFA, and they were the team drawn from pot one for the group stage of this tournament.
The group they have been drawn in looks the weakest, on paper, with Colombia, Japan, and Senegal their opponents.
Despite the fact they are the highest ranked team in the group, and they have the fire-power of Lewandowski, they face teams who aren’t far behind them in terms of quality and that are capable of beating them.
The bookmakers have them priced as second favourites to win the group, at 15/8 with Ladbrokes, but we aren’t confident they will live up to expectations.
They have played both Colombia and Japan once before, losing to both, and have never met Senegal. So, Poland could be one of the first top seeded casualties of this tournament.
Our Poland World Cup Prediction
At every World Cup, at least one top seeded team fails to live up to expectation and we think it could be Poland at Russia 2018. They can score goals against any opposition, but they lack quality in depth, and if star player Lewandowski suffered an injury or suspension it would make their task even harder.
While many people will have Poland tipped to go through, we are of the belief that they will slip up and end up finishing third in the group. Qualifying with ease against teams similar in style, and who are more well-known to the players is all well and good. But, they will face three teams with varying styles here and we think that is reason enough to pick them as our top seed failures.