History in the World Cup
Poland have qualified for the World Cup 8 times and their highest finish is third place in both 1974 and 1982. They qualified for their first World Cup in 1938 where they crashed out in the first round. They had to wait until 1974 to make their second appearance, but it was worth it as they finished third. A fifth place finish in 1978 was followed by a joint-highest third place finish for them in 1982.
They finished 14th in 1986 and then after 4 straight appearances, they had to wait until 2002 to make their next appearance. Poland will be aiming to at least make the quarter-finals this time around, and they certainly have the quality to do that.
Current Form
Poland have played 11 games since the start of 2017, and they have been very good in this span of time. They have won 6 games and lost just 3 times, 2 of them by a margin of just a single goal. They have also drawn 2 games to World Cup bound Uruguay and Copa America holders Chile.
They have outscored their opposition 23 to 15 and this is a sign of good things to come. With a friendly against relative minnows Lithuania to come before the World Cup, Poland are well prepared to make a decent run.
Squad
Manager : Adam Nawałka
Goalkeepers: Bartosz Bialkowski (Ipswich), Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea City), Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus)
Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Southampton), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria), Thiago Cionek (SPAL), Kamil Glik (Monaco), Artur Jedrzejczyk (Legia Warsaw), Michal Pazdan (Legia Warsaw), Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund)
Midfielders: Jakub Blaszczykowski (Wolfsburg), Jacek Goralski (Ludogorets Razgrad), Kamil Grosicki (Hull City), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Paris Saint-Germain), Rafal Kurzawa (Gornik Zabrze), Karol Linetty (Sampdoria), Slawomir Peszko (Lechnia Gdansk), Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiv Moscow), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli)
Forwards: Dawid Kownacki (Sampdoria), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Arkadiusz Milik (Napoli), Lukasz Teodorczyk (Anderlecht)
Danger Man
No prizes for guessing. That’s right, Robert Lewandowski, the highest goal scorer for Poland. He is lethal in front of the net and was the highest goal scorer in the Bundesliga this season, netting 29 times in 30 Bundesliga appearances, and 41 goals in all competitions. His strengths are finishing, hold up play and long shots.. While he doesn’t contribute much in defense, he is a beast on offense and will be very hard to stop in this World Cup.
Rankings:
FIFA - Current 8
Highest 5
ELO - Current 19
Highest 2
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