Robert Lewandowski is daydreaming about scoring at a World Cup as a stern warning to Poland’s Group C adversaries Mexico.
Mexico is entering its eighth World Cup tournament after being eliminated in the round of 16 in each of their previous seven appearances. Gerardo Martino, a former player and manager for Argentina, has been in control of El Tri since January 2019. He is the person in charge of breaking that cycle in Qatar.
The 60-year-old, who played for Barcelona for a season before becoming the manager of Argentina in 2014, led Mexico to their eighth Gold Cup victory by defeating the United States in the final in 2019, but the Americans got even with his team two years later.
With a 2-0 victory over El Salvador on the final matchday, Mexico qualified for the World Cup, finishing tied on points with Canada at the top of CONCACAF qualifications and, more importantly, three points ahead of Costa Rica in the play-off spot.
It is unclear when they have the expertise necessary to make a serious run at making it past the round of 8 for the very first time since staging the competition in 1986, but their upcoming match against Poland may be crucial for moving past Group C.
Since Argentina, the clear second favourite, is also in their group, Poland’s opening match against that country will likely be crucial if they are to advance past the group stage for the first time since Mexico ’86.
Poland, who had previously failed to achieve the heights of coming third in 1974 and 1982, have failed to advance past the opening round in each of their last 3 World Cup appearances in 2002, 2006, and 2018 – winning one game and losing two in each of those editions.
Czeslaw Michniewicz, the former manager of Legia Warslaw, was named head coach earlier this year. He almost immediately became a household name by leading Poland to a 2-0 victory over Sweden in a qualifying play-off to advance to Qatar.
Their chances of succeeding at a major tournament, as has frequently been the case in the last few years, heavily depend on the performance of storied forward Robert Lewandowski, who has yet to score at a World Cup after going scoreless in all three games in 2018.
The 34-year-old will be adamant to change that undesirable record against Mexico on Tuesday, possibly putting his country in the driver’s seat for second place in Group C.
Mexico Team News
Star striker Raul Jimenez, who has 29 goals for Mexico, made his first start in almost 3 months on Wednesday when he came off the bench for the second half of Mexico’s 2-1 friendly loss to Sweden.
Due to a persistent groyne problem, the 31-year-old hasn’t played for Wolverhampton Wanderers since August, which casts serious doubt on his ability to start against Poland on Tuesday. If Jimenez is only deemed healthy enough to sit on the bench, Henry Martin is prepared to take over as the line leader. Meanwhile, Jesus Corona has been ruled out of the tournament due to an ankle injury.
Mexico possible starting lineup:
Ochoa; Sanchez, Montes, Moreno, Gallardo; Alvarez, Herrera, Guardado; Hirving Lozano, Martin, Vega
Poland Team news
Bartlomiej Dragowski, Jacek Goralski, and Adam Buksa, however, had to leave Poland’s team due to injuries. Lewandowski didn’t come off the bench as his country defeated Chile 1-0 in a friendly on Wednesday; Michniewicz preferred to keep his talisman fresh for the competition.
Matty Cash of Aston Villa, who only made his debut for Poland a year ago after applying for a Polish passport through his mother’s lineage, should be able to overcome a shoulder injury and be available for selection, but there is stiff competition for the right wing-back position.
Poland possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Bednarek, Glik, Kiwior; Bereszynski, Krychowiak, Zielinski, Szymanski, Zalewski; Swiderski, Robert Lewandowski
Players to Watch
Hirving Lozano
Mexico led all teams with 8 clean sheets during 3rd round of CONCACAF qualifying, but scoring goals has been a bigger challenge. There is even more pressure on Lozano up top because Raul Jimenez is out of shape and has played just 3 Premier League games for Wolves this season. The Napoli forward is having a successful season at the club level and has World Cup experience, having gained notoriety with his goal against Germany in 2018.
Robert Lewandowski
Lewandowski’s goals alone weren’t enough for Poland to qualify, but there’s no denying they need him to be at his best if they want to have an impact. Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe are the only players in Europe’s top five leagues who have scored more goals than Lewandowski, who has had a strong debut season for his new team Barcelona. However, worryingly for Poland, each of the previous five goals came from set pieces, with their most recent open-play World Cup goal occurring 20 years ago.
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